[IsraelTimes] France evacuates over 100 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, a French official tells The Times of Israel.
The effort is part of France’s campaign since the war started 18 months ago to evacuate French nationals, Palestinians working for France and their relatives, and Palestinians with links to France. The Gazans were evacuated for health and humanitarian reasons, says the official.
Israel has made approval of evacuations from Gaza easier in recent weeks, The Times of Israel has learned.
[IsraelTimes] In a summary of activities in Leb ...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... over the past week, the IDF says it killed nine Hezbollah operatives and struck over 40 sites belonging to the terror group.
The IDF says the strikes come as part of efforts to prevent Hezbollah from rearming. Operatives involved in Hezbollah’s regrouping efforts and those who Israel says were violating the ceasefire were targeted.
It publishes footage of some of the strikes this past week.
Since the start of the ceasefire in Lebanon, the IDF says it has killed over 140 Hezbollah operatives.
[IsraelTimes] Defense Minister Israel Katz has approved the entry of 600 Syrian Druzeholy mans into Israel tomorrow to celebrate the holiday of Ziyara at the tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Lower Galilee, the Walla news site reports.
This would mark the first time Syrian Druze visitors are permitted to stay overnight in Israel. They will return to Syria the following day.
In March, Katz authorized a similar visit for 60 holy mans, who met with the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, Sheikh Muafak Tarif, and visited the sacred site.
The IDF’s Northern Command is expected to heighten its readiness during the visit and will oversee the crossing of the holy mans across the border, according to the report.
[IsraelTimes] A teenager who attacked a rabbi in a central French city is sentenced to 16 months in prison by the juvenile court, after a long day of hearings in which he denied responsibility.
The attack took place last month as Rabbi Arie Engelberg was walking with his nine-year-old son from a synagogue in Orleans, about 110 kilometers (about 70 miles) south of Gay Paree.
After the teenager was arrested, he told Sherlocks that he was Paleostinian, but later said during a hearing that he was Moroccan and 16 years old.
According to his lawyer, the teenager arrived less than a year ago in La Belle France, where he has no family.
He is given a 12-month sentence for the attack, as well as additional time in prison for other cases, including refusing to undergo police testing while in jug and possession of illegal narcotics after being found with two grams of cannabis resin.
He has been ordered to remain in detention, Orleans public prosecutor Emmanuelle Bochenek-Puren tells AFP, adding that the teenager has also been banned for five years from the Loiret department where the assault occurred.
"We have encountered a person who has denied any responsibility," says the rabbi’s lawyer, Isabelle Abreu, criticizing the minor’s attitude of "denying everything" after several hours of a closed-door trial.
Accompanying Engelberg to the hearing is Andre Druon, president of the Jewish community of Orleans, who says the attacker "blamed everything on the rabbi" during the hearing.
"The attacker expressed no form of regret or compassion," Druon says after the hearing.
"I have a community and a family to take care of, we have no choice but to move forward, and we do so with our heads held high," Engelberg says, recalling that he defended himself against his attacker.
[IsraelTmes] Smaller partners of minority government accuse Pedro Sanchez of ‘breach of contract’ after he includes already agreed upon 6 million-euro bullet purchase in defense spending boost
A decision by Spain’s Socialist government to backtrack on a promise to cancel a contract to buy bullets from an Israeli firm drew a rebuke on Wednesday from its junior coalition partners, with some allies threatening to withdraw support.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government has struggled to pass legislation since securing a new term by cobbling together an alliance of left-wing and regional separatist parties in 2023.
On Wednesday, the ministry said it had been advised by Spain’s state attorney that breaking the contract would have meant paying the full amount without receiving the shipment.
On Tuesday, Sanchez angered far-left junior partner Sumar after unveiling a plan to boost defense spending.
Spain is a long-time critic of Israel’s policies toward Paleostinians in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and the West Bank, and has outraged Jerusalem by recognizing Paleostinian statehood last May, along with Norway and Ireland.
Sanchez’s government pledged to stop selling arms to Israel shortly after October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... -led bully boyz stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza. Last year, the government widened that commitment to include weapons purchases from Israel.
Sumar, a platform of left-wing parties that controls five ministries led by deputy premier Yolanda Diaz, said Wednesday that the decision to go forward with the arms purchase was "a flagrant violation" of the alliance’s coalition agreement with Sanchez’s Socialists.
"We demand the immediate rectification of this contract," Sumar said in a statement.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said last October it was canceling a contract worth 6.6 million euros ($7.53 million) to buy more than 15 million 9-millimeter rounds from Guardian LTD Israel.
On Wednesday, the ministry said it had been advised by Spain’s state attorney that breaking the contract would have meant paying the full amount without receiving the shipment.
*Snicker*
Guardian LTD Israel did not immediately comment on the decision.
Izquierda Unida (United Left) politician Enrique Santiago, whose party is part of Sumar, suggested there were legal grounds to cancel the contract without paying, but that even "a breach of contract of only about six million [euros] will be applauded by the whole country."
Asked if IU could abandon the coalition government, he told news hounds: "We are currently considering all scenarios."
Before the news of the ammunition contract broke, Diaz had said her group disagreed with the increase in defense spending, particularly a plan to procure more weapons, but that the coalition was in good health and would see out the legislative term ending in 2027.
[IsraelTimes] Undercover Border Police officers and IDF troops say they arrested the head of a terror cell in the West Bank refugee camp of Balata near Nablus, following precise intelligence provided by the Shin Bet.
According to a joint statement, the suspect was apprehended after a brief exchange of fire. A second wanted man involved in terrorist activity was also detained during the operation.
Security forces say violent riots broke out during the arrest, prompting them to respond with live fire.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says troops killed a Palestinian who hurled an explosive device at the forces in the West Bank town of Yamun, near Jenin, earlier today.
[IsraelTimes] The Israeli military acknowledges that troops mistakenly shelled a United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... facility in central Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... last month, killing a UN worker.
Until now, the IDF denied it had struck the UN guesthouse in Deir al-Balah on March 19.
The IDF’s high-level General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism, an independent military body responsible for investigating unusual incidents amid the war, is looking into the event.
The mechanism’s initial findings were presented today to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and UN representatives, the military says.
According to the findings, on March 19, an IDF tank operating in the area fired a shell at the building, following a "suspicion of enemy forces in it." The investigation has found that the building was not identified by the tank crew as belonging to the UN.
Zamir has instructed the head of the mechanism, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Har-Even, to conclude the probe in the coming days and present the full findings to the UN representatives.
The IDF says it "regrets this serious incident and continues to conduct thorough review processes to draw operational lessons and evaluate additional measures to prevent such events in the future."
"We express our deep sorrow for the loss and send our condolences to the family," the military says.
#2
The investigation has found that the building was not identified by the tank crew as belonging to the UN.
Then its a "Oopsie!" in a war theater. The original Geneva required that sanctuary buildings be clearly and unequivocally marked to avoid such mishaps. Just because the UN doesn't want its buildings shelled is not enough.
[IsraelTimes] IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir tells officers in the Gaza Strip today that if there is no hostage deal in the near future, the military will significantly expand its offensive against Hamas.
“We are continuing with the operational pressure and tightening the ring around Hamas as needed, and if we see no progress in the return of the hostages, we will expand our activities to an intense and even more significant move, until we reach the defeat [of Hamas],” Zamir says.
“Hamas is responsible for the start of this war. It now holds the hostages cruelly and is responsible for the difficult state of the population in Gaza. Hamas is mistaken when it comes to our abilities, intentions and determination, just like [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah and his top command,” he adds.
[IsraelTimes] Lebanese official media says eight people were maimed in a drone attack in a border village, as Syria said it responded to artillery fire from Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... Eight Syrian refugees were maimed and taken to the hospital in the northeast area of Hermel after an "explosives-laden drone blew up" in the border village of Hawsh al-Sayyed ...Arabic term meaning your/his lordship. Groveling in His Exalted Presence is encouraged... Ali, Lebanon’s National News Agency says.
The Lebanese army sent reinforcements "after gunfire was heard," the report adds.
Syrian state news agency SANA, carrying a statement from an unnamed defense ministry source, says Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group had launched artillery shells at Syrian army positions in the Qusayr area of Homs province, near the Lebanese border.
"Our forces immediately targeted the sources of the fire," the statement says.
"We are in contact with the Lebanese army to evaluate the incident and stopped targeting the sources of fire" at the Lebanese army’s request, the statement adds.
Lebanon and Syria’s defense ministers signed an agreement last month to address border security threats after festivities left 10 dead.
Earlier in March, Syria’s new authorities accused Hezbollah of abducting three soldiers into Lebanese territory and killing them.
The Iran-backed terror group, which fought alongside the forces of toppled Syrian president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... , denied involvement, but the ensuing cross-border festivities left seven Lebanese dead.
Lebanon and Syria share a porous 205-mile (330-kilometer) frontier that is notorious for the smuggling of goods, people and weapons.
[IsraelTimes] Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar applauds a decision by Paraguay to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hamas, and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.
Sa’ar commends the South American country and President Santiago Peña for the “landmark decision” in a post on X.
Peña reopened his country’s embassy in Jerusalem last December and condemned Hamas “criminals” in a speech at the Knesset during the same visit.
“We were with you, we are with you, we will stay with the people of Israel forever,” the Paraguayan president told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the ceremony for the embassy reopening.
[HodhodYemenNews] At least three civilians were maimed due to the American aggression on the capital Sana’a and Saada Governorate in the early hours of Thursday, the Health Ministry in Sanaa reported.
In a statement, the Health Ministry explained that one civilian was injured in the attack on the eastern al-Gharaf neighborhood in the Shu’ub district.
The attack also left damages to several houses in the same area .
It added that another civilian was injured in the enemy’s Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on the Al Salam district, while a third was maimed in the aggression targeting the Sahar district in Saada Governorate.
[HodhodYemenNews] l,The United States has launched a new wave of airstrikes across multiple regions in Yemen, including the capital Sana’a, in support of the Zionist entity and its ongoing genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Security sources reported that American warplanes launched six airstrikes, targeting the Brash area east of Jabal Nuqum in the capital, Sana’a, and struck Jabal Nuqum with three airstrikes east of the capital.
The sources indicated that the American aggression targeted the eastern al-Gharaf neighborhood in the Shu’ub district.
Last night, the American enemy launched six airstrikes on Sahlin area of Al Salem district and three airstrikes on the northern part of Saada city.
The American enemy also conducted a series of airstrikes on Marib Governorate.
Additionally, the aggression warplane launched a series of airstrikes on the district of At-Huhayta in Hodeidah province, western Yemen.
[IsraelTimes] The US military says a blast on Sunday near a UNESCO world heritage site in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s capital city of Sanaa was caused by a Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... missile and not an American Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... The Houthi-run health ministry said a dozen people were killed in the US strike in a neighborhood of Sanaa. The Old City of Sanaa is a recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site.
President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons... ordered the intensification of US strikes on Yemen last month, with his administration saying they will continue assaulting Iran-backed Houthi rebels until they stop attacking Red Sea shipping.
A US Central Command spokesperson says the damage and casualties described by Yemen’s Houthi officials "likely did occur" but they were not caused by a U.S. attack. The closest US strike that night was more than three miles (5 kilometers) away, the spokesperson says.
The US military assessed that the damage was caused by a "Houthi air defense missile" based on a review of "local reporting, including videos documenting Arabic writing on the missile’s fragments at the market," the spokesperson says, adding the Houthis subsequently arrested Yemenis. He does not provide evidence.
[OneIndia] Apr 25, 2025, 9:45 AM IST
The house of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Adil Thokar, also known as Adil Guree, has also been demolished. He is believed to have been involved in the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. Adil had legally traveled to Pakistan in 2018, where he reportedly received terror training before returning to Jammu and Kashmir last year.
Apr 25, 2025, 9:45 AM IST
Even as Pakistan condemned the recent attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam and denied claims of harbouring terror outfits, its Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday hailed the perpetrators as "freedom fighters".
Apr 25, 2025, 9:15 AM IST
Based on specific intelligence input regarding the presence of terrorists, a Joint Search Operation was launched by the Indian Army and Jammu & Kashmir Police in the general area of Kolnar Ajas, Bandipora. Contact was established and firefight ensued: Chinar Corps, Indian Army
Apr 25, 2025, 7:43 AM IST
Pakistan Army initiated small arms firing at some places on the Line of Control. The firing was effectively responded to by the Indian Army, ANI reported, citing Indian Army officials. No casualties have been reported and further details are being ascertained.
The decision was taken at the National Security Committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
In a statement, the National Security Committee said: "Water is a Vital National Interest of Pakistan, a lifeline for its 240 million people, and its availability will be safeguarded at all costs.
"Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty, and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian will be considered as an Act of War and responded with full force across the complete spectrum of National Power".
According to a statement from the Indian Army's White Knight Corps, the operation was launched based on specific intelligence inputs. "A joint operation with the Jammu and Kashmir Police was launched today in Basantgarh, Udhampur. Contact was established, and a fierce firefight ensued," the statement read.
Tragically, one Indian Army soldier was critically injured during the initial exchange of fire and later succumbed to his injuries despite the best medical efforts.
"The Indian Navy's latest indigenous guided missile destroyer, INS Surat, has successfully carried out a precision cooperative engagement of a sea-skimming target, marking a significant milestone in strengthening the Navy's defence capabilities. This achievement demonstrates the Indian Navy's growing prowess in indigenous warship design, development, and operations, and underscores the nation's commitment to self-reliance in defence manufacturing," the Indian Navy said in a statement.
The Indian Navy's demonstration follows reports of Pakistan preparing for a surface-to-surface missile test along its Karachi coastline between April 24-25. While Pakistan claims the test will occur within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Indian defense officials are closely monitoring the situation. Analysts suggest the test likely involves Shaheen-III or Babur cruise missiles, which have the range to target major Indian cities.
[Oneindia] The brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025, where 26 innocent people - mostly tourists - were bumped off by Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...> 's proxy, The Resistance® Front (TRF), is not an isolated tragedy. It is a chilling reminder of a long history of Islamist terrorism in the Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... Valley, rooted in a hate-fuelled ideology that sees Hindus, and anyone who doesn't conform, as expendable. The attackers didn't want money. They didn't make demands. They came only to kill, with surgical hate, chanting the same slogans that once echoed through the Valley during the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990.
This wasn't just an attack on people - this was an attack on the very idea of Bharat.
ECHOES OF 1990: THE FORGOTTEN EXODUS
The Pahalgam massacre bears haunting similarities to the genocide and forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits over three decades ago. Back then, temples were desecrated, homes torched, and families driven out by threats echoing from loudspeakers - "Convert, flee, or die." Of the estimated 120,000 to 140,000 Kashmiri Pandits living in the Valley, nearly 90,000 to 100,000 fled by mid-1990. By that time, between 30 and 80 had already been killed by bad boys.
Today, when tourists are killed for simply being Indian, for embodying the spirit of unity and integration, we must ask - has anything really changed?
The answer is clear: it has changed only under a government that refuses to bend to terror - a BJP-led government.
Under PM Narendra Modi's leadership, abrogation of Article 370 was a historic blow to separatist forces. But terror outfits, propped up by Pakistain and its jihad factories, continue to target civilians because they cannot stand the thought of a peaceful, pluralistic, and united Jammu and Kashmir. Pahalgam is their act of desperation - a last-ditch attempt to terrorise a land that has begun to heal.
THE GLOBAL PATTERN: HINDUS PERSECUTED IN BANGLADESH AND PAKISTAN
What happened in Pahalgam is not limited to Indian soil. The pattern is painfully familiar across other countries. Hindus, whether in the Kashmir Valley, Bangladesh, or Pakistain, have borne the brunt of a radical ideology that has no place for pluralism, tolerance, or democracy.
In Bangladesh, the Hindu population has dropped from 22% in 1951 to under 8% today. In 2024, a total of 76 attacks targeting Hindus were reported- temples vandalised, homes burned, and women assaulted.
In Pakistain, the story is even darker: blasphemy ...the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. Some religions consider it to be a crime. In Pakistain you can commit blasphemy by looking cross-eyed at a Koran... laws are weaponised, temples razed, and minor Hindu girls forcibly converted. Over 100 incidents targeting Hindus were reported in just the first ten months of 2024.
The international community has turned a blind eye. Liberals raise their voices for every global minority - except the Hindu one. Why is the pain of Hindus so inconvenient to global conscience?
BJP: THE ONLY BULWARK AGAINST RADICAL TERROR
It is only under the BJP that India has moved from appeasement to assertion. The abrogation of Article 370, the firm surgical responses to cross-border terror, and the commitment to resettle Kashmiri Pandits in their homeland show that the PM Modi government doesn't just mourn - it acts.
While opposition parties indulge in vote bank politics and play blind to Islamist radicalism, BJP has stood as a wall between terror and the common man. The blood spilled in Pahalgam is a grim reminder of why a strong, nationalist leadership is non-negotiable.
[Oneindia] A peaceful spring afternoon in the picturesque hill station of Pahalgam, nestled in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, turned into a nightmare on April 22. What should have been a moment of serene escape for visiting tourists quickly descended into a chilling scene of bloodshed as armed terrorists launched a brutal, targeted assault-not just on lives, but on religious identity.
In what eyewitnesses describe as a premeditated religious massacre, the attackers demanded the names and ID cards of the victims, separating them based on their faith. Male tourists were forced to strip so the terrorists could identify them using medieval methods, checking for circumcision-a grotesque and deliberate strategy used to isolate Hindus. Those singled out were then ordered to recite the kalima-an Islamic declaration of faith-and those who refused or hesitated were shot in cold blood. Every step was designed to isolate Hindus and murder them for their identity.
"This was not just a terror strike. This was ideological jihad masquerading as militancy," said a senior BJP leader. "This is part of a long-term war against the religious and cultural identity of India."
Twenty-six people lost their lives in Pahalgam. All of them were unarmed civilians. Many were tourists from other parts of India-families who had come to the valley for peace, not politics. Their only "crime" in the eyes of their killers was that they were Hindu.
This was not random. This was not resistance. This was religious cleansing by design. The massacre fits a familiar and horrifying pattern-one deeply linked to Pakistan's ISI-backed strategy of proxy war in Kashmir. According to security analysts, the objective is clear: foment communal tension, bleed India through ideological warfare, and destabilise harmony in one of the most sensitive regions of the country.
Yet this ideology isn't confined to Kashmir. From selective killings in West Bengal to the recent riots in Nagpur, a consistent thread of jihadist violence runs beneath the surface. To these extremists, every standing Hindu temple is a defeat, every festival a provocation. For them, killing a Hindu isn't a crime-it's divine justice. And yet, the global narrative chants: "Terrorism has no religion."
"When we call it out for what it is-jihad-we're told we're being 'communal'. That is moral cowardice, and it is deadly," said another BJP voice. "It emboldens terrorists. It ensures victims are forgotten while their killers are rationalised."
But this time, the response from New Delhi is not weak-kneed diplomacy. It is not silence. It is not appeasement.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, India is not just condemning terror-it is confronting it.
Home Minister Shah's visit to the site and his assurance that Bharat will not bend to terror sends a clear message. Prime Minister Modi's statement that every terrorist and their backers will be identified and punished shows the resolve of a new India. The message is simple: those who kill our people will not sleep easy. Justice will be delivered-not in press conferences, but in action.
This was not an attack on just tourists-it was an attack on the soul of India. And we will no longer allow the selective targeting of Hindus to be brushed under the carpet. India will respond-not just with force, but with clarity.
From Delhi to every inch of Indian soil, the message is loud and clear: this is a new India-unafraid, unyielding, and united under a leadership that doesn't just condemn terror, but crushes it.
[ShabelleMedia] al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... Lions of Islam launched a pre-dawn assault on a Somali National Army base in the War-Gaadhi area, under the Masjid Cali Gaduud district in the Middle Shabelle region, early Thursday, officials said.
The attack began with a series of explosions, followed by an intense firefight between Somali government forces — backed by local Ma’awisley militia — and the holy warriors.
Masjid Cali Gaduud district commissioner, Salah Omar Haayow, told Shabelle Radio that Somali forces successfully repelled the attack and inflicted casualties on the bully boys.
"Our forces pushed back the al-Shabaab fighters, and the group suffered losses during the first phase of the battle," Haayow said, noting that the exact number of casualties could not yet be confirmed.
The Somali National Army has not yet issued an official statement regarding the incident.
The attack comes just a week after a similar raid by al-Shabaab on a military base in Aadan Yabaal, also in the Middle Shabelle region, where dozens of government soldiers were reportedly killed.
The repeated assaults underscore the ongoing threat posed by al-Shabaab, as Somali forces continue their operations to reclaim territory in central Somalia.
[ShabelleMedia] Kenya’s Security agencies in Mandera are currently pursuing suspected al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... turbans following the abduction of a Safaricom technician in the volatile Bamba Ola area, roughly 25 kilometres north of Elwak.
According to internal communication seen by The Eastleigh Voice, the incident occurred at approximately 4.30 p.m. when around 10 bad boys, armed with AK-47 rifles and a PKM machine gun, ambushed a fuel tanker transporting supplies to Safaricom communication masts.
The two other occupants of the tanker, both locals, were left unharmed, and the vehicle was later secured at the Wargadud Special Operations Group (SOG) camp.
In the same operation, the turbans intercepted several vehicles, including cycle of violences and proboxes, heading toward Elwak Town. After establishing that the occupants were locals, they reportedly lectured them before allowing them to proceed.
Two buses—Legend and Ambasa—travelling from Nairobi to Mandera were also stopped, with passengers subjected to a brief interrogation and lecture before being released.
Security teams from the Elwak Forward Operating Base (FOB) and Wargadud SOG immediately responded and have launched a joint pursuit of the assailants.
"This incident is a stark reminder of the persistent threat posed by terror groups in our border regions. We are doing everything possible to ensure the safe recovery of the kidnapped technician," said a senior security officer based in Mandera, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... Monitoring and tracking efforts remain ongoing as authorities continue to tighten security and urge residents to remain alert.
[IsraelTimes] Despite a procedural victory for Israel, officials in Jerusalem condemn the fact that court did not cancel the arrest warrants for war crimes charges against Netanyahu and Gallant
The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) unanimously ruled on Thursday to return to a lower chamber Israel’s challenge against the court’s jurisdiction to try Israeli citizens for war crimes, saying an initial decision on the issue had failed to sufficiently address Jerusalem’s arguments that it is entitled to challenge the court’s jurisdiction.
In a procedural victory for the Jewish state, the ruling by all five judges upheld Jerusalem’s assertion that it had a right to appeal the jurisdiction issue, but did not deal with the substance of the case. The Appeal Chamber’s language was nevertheless critical of the Pre-Trial Chamber’s failure to consider the merits of Israel’s challenge.
The Appeals Chamber said it was not ruling on Israel’s request that arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant issued last year for suspected war crimes in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... be suspended, arguing the issue was not directly connected to the matter of jurisdiction, and saying it was for the Pre-Trial Chamber to determine.
An aide to Netanyahu condemned the decision not to suspend the arrest warrants, saying "Israel expects the [ICC] to cancel the warrants immediately."
And Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... Danny Danon said the decision to revisit the question of jurisdiction "exposes the lack of legitimacy behind the political arrest warrants."
Prof. Yuval Shany of Hebrew University’s Faculty of Law, who filed an amicus brief to the ICC in July last year challenging the court’s jurisdiction, said the Appeal’s Chamber ruling "does not reflect very positively on the Pre-Trial Chamber’s performance."
In May 2024, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over their conduct of the war against Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... in Gaza, on charges of crimes against humanity and other war crimes charges.
Specifically, Khan accused the two leaders of "causing extermination," "causing starvation as a method of war including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies," and deliberately targeting civilians in a conflict.
Despite challenges filed by Israel and other nations to the prosecutor’s request, including on issues of jurisdiction, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I rejected those arguments and approved Khan’s request for warrants in November 2024.
Israel filed two appeals to that decision in December.
One appeal dealt with the jurisdiction issue, with Israel arguing that since the terms of the Oslo Accords signed by Israel and the Paleostinians explicitly deny any Paleostinian entity legal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, the Paleostinian Authority never had the right to delegate jurisdiction to the ICC in the first place.
When the ICC announced an investigation into Israel in 2021, Israel raised this issue and the court ruled it would only decide on "further questions of jurisdiction" if and when the prosecutor filed requests for arrest warrants for Israelis.
When ruling on Khan’s request for warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I asserted it was too early to consider such arguments.
But the Appeals Chamber ruled on Thursday that the Pre-Trial Chamber had an obligation to consider the jurisdictional challenge by Israel, pointing out that the 2021 ruling had said explicitly that "issues pertaining to the impact of the Oslo Agreements on the Court’s jurisdiction ’may be raised by interested States...’ at a later stage."
The Appeals Chamber added that the lower chamber had therefore "committed an error of law" by failing to sufficiently deal with Israel’s arguments about its right to challenge the court’s jurisdiction.
In its second appeal, Israel contended that Khan should have provided new notification to Israel of his investigation into the allegations regarding the prosecution of the war in Gaza, but instead relied on notification issued in 2021 of an investigation the court had initiated at that time.
Notification is a fundamental principle of the court, whereby the prosecutor must tell the state in question that it is investigating its citizens to allow that country to conduct its own investigation.
In a technical ruling of a three to two majority, the Appeals Chamber ruled that Israel had not had the right to appeal this issue when it did, but may request that the Pre-Trial Chamber grant it permission to appeal, which it has actually done in parallel to the appeal.
A aide close to Netanyahu said in a statement to The Times of Israel following the decision that the Appeals Chamber ruling "highlights the injustice done to Prime Minister Netanyahu and the former defense minister, when the Court issued absurd warrants without having the authority to do so." The source added that "Israel expects the [ICC] to cancel the warrants immediately."
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote in a post on X in that "The [ICC] warrants were issued unlawfully. They are null and void," adding that the ICC "doesn’t have, and never had jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister and its former Minister of Defense."
Sa’ar said the Appeals Court "instructed the Court today, to do what it should have done from the start: to make a determination with respect to jurisdiction. On this topic, there is only one correct answer: the Court has no jurisdiction over Israel."
Danon alleged that the ICC "operates as a political tool serving Israel’s enemies," adding, "When international institutions punish democracies and ignore terrorism, they harm not only Israel but the very values on which the free world is built," in a statement from his office.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas-run civil defense says at least 25 dead in IDF strikes across Strip; Israel’s Foreign Ministry blasts UK-France-Germany call for resumed aid, says ‘no shortage of aid in Gaza’
The IDF and Shin Bet said Thursday an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in northern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ’s Jabalia targeted a group of Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... operatives at a command center used by the terror groups.
Paleostinian media reported that the strike targeted Jabalia’s former cop shoppe, and that at least nine people were killed.
According to the IDF, the site was used by the terror operatives to plan and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians and troops.
The IDF said it had taken steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including the use of a "precision munition, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence."
"The terror organizations systematically violate international law while taking over civilian infrastructure, and while brutally exploiting the civilian population as a human shield for its terror attacks," the military added.
The Hamas-run Gaza civil defense agency and Paleostinian medics said that Israeli air strikes killed at least 25 people on Thursday, including a family of six whose home was struck in Gaza City.
The numbers cannot be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and terror operatives.
Nidal al-Sarafiti, a relative of the family, said the strike was carried out when the family was sleeping.
"What can I say? The destruction has spared no one," he told AFP.
Elsewhere, five people were said to have died when the tents they had sought refuge in were hit.
Three people were killed, including a child, in the town of Zuwaida in central Gaza, the civil defense said in a statement.
Another two people were reported killed in a strike on a home in the southern city of Khan Younis.
"We were sitting in peace when the missile fell.. I just don’t understand ... what’s happening," said Mohammed Faris, who said he witnessed the strike on the house.
FOREIGN MINISTRY BLASTS UK, FRANCE, GERMANY
The strikes came as Israel continued to take military action against Hamas and deny the entry of aid into the Strip in a bid to pressure the terror group into reaching a deal to release hostages.
Late Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry responded to a joint statement by the United Kingdom, La Belle France, and Germany condemning Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza, in a blurb shared by the ministry’s front man, calling the statement "ethically outrageous."
"Israel is fighting Hamas, which steals humanitarian aid, uses it to rebuild its war machine, and hides behind civilians," the Foreign Ministry said, adding that it "categorically reject[s] the claim of ’politicization of humanitarian aid’ as stated in the E3’s statement."
In the statement, the three nations’ foreign ministers called for the immediate resumption of aid deliveries to the Strip and criticized recent comments on the issue by Defense Minister Israel Katz. They also called for Israel to do more to protect Paleostinian civilians in Gaza, for Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, and for all parties to return to a ceasefire.
"Article 70 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions requires aid when ’the civilian population is not adequately supplied,’" the statement from the Foreign Ministry added. "During the 42-day ceasefire, 25,000 aid trucks entered Gaza. Israel is monitoring the situation on the ground, and there is no shortage of aid in Gaza."
"According to Article 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, a side is not obliged to allow in aid if it is ’likely to assist the military or economic efforts of the enemy.’ Hamas hijacked the humanitarian aid to rebuild its terror machine," the ministry further stated.
Instead of mentioning that "Hamas is the one targeting Israeli civilians while hiding behind Paleostinian civilians," the three countries "chose to accuse Israel of strikes on humanitarian personnel and healthcare facilities — this is morally twisted and wrong," the blurb said.
The Foreign Ministry asserted that the IDF "conducts thorough and transparent investigations" in cases involving civilian casualties, and says that "all condemnations should be directed at Hamas, which hides in hospitals and behind civilians."
"The so-called balance the E3 statement is trying to create between Israel and Hamas is ethically outrageous," the response went on, saying that the countries mention "only in passing the fact that Hamas still holds 59 hostages in inhumane conditions underground."
"The war can end tomorrow if the hostages are released and Hamas lays down its weapons," the ministry said.
[PJMedia] How many Americans are aware of how active jihadis have been in this country of late? In New York, Ahmed al Jabali went into a barber shop to get his beard trimmed and ended up stabbing the Jewish barber with his own barber’s scissors, explaining that it was his "right as a Moslem to punish Jews." In Kentucky, Mirsad Ramic has just been "convicted of providing material support to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and al-Sham, known as ISIS; conspiracy to support the organization; and receiving military training." In Georgia, Aliakbar Mohammed Amin threatened to murder both President Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
And now, it looks as if Mohammed Adan Mohammed, a young resident of the left’s brave, new, multicultural Mankato, Minn., was stopped just in the nick of time. A special agent with the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said that "there were strong indicators that Mohammed was preparing to conduct some sort of attack (Mass Casualty Event) in the next twenty-four hours." Mohammed Adan Mohammed was stopped, but what is being done to prevent others in the future from plotting jihad massacres of the kind that he wanted to perpetrate? Nothing whatsoever, of course.
Minnesota’s Alpha News reported Wednesday that "the Blue Earth County Attorney’s Office has filed felony charges against Mohammed Adan Mohammed after he allegedly stole $2,150 worth of firearm magazines and made a threatening, anti-American post on social media." The social media posts were the first indication that this was much more than just a shoplifting case.
Mohammed, who is 24, behaved suspiciously from the beginning. He "entered a Mankato store last week wearing a COVID mask, gloves, a green stocking cap, and a heavy winter coat." It's getting warmer these days, even in Mankato, and so Mohammed’s attire gave the impression that he had something to hide or was himself intending to hide items he shoplifted. And indeed, he "reportedly began selecting high-priced items such as body armor, bear spray, and 9mm firearm magazines without checking prices. As such, the business became suspicious." With good reason.
While he was in the store, Mohammed also spoke to store employees about "an AR-style rifle he claimed to possess." Then he left with "approximately $2,150 worth of products," for which he had not paid. Store security officers tried to stop him, but Mohammed Adan Mohammed got into a car and sped away, "nearly [running] over a person" in the process.
Charges: ‘Strong indicators’ Mankato shoplifter was ‘preparing to conduct some sort of attack’
A BCA agent said "there were strong indicators" that Mohamed Adan Mohamed "was preparing to conduct some sort of attack (Mass Casualty Event)." https://t.co/674l3W9xo3
Mohamed had been in such a hurry to get out of the store that he “reportedly left behind a list that he referred to as he selected products.” These included a “Survival Gear List,” which included a “sleeping bag, lighters, 8 magazines, knives, pepper spray, a ‘6-mag chest right,’ bows and arrows.” In line with this, Mohamed “had stolen eight magazines” among the other items he purloined from the store.
All this took place against the backdrop of the fact that Mohamed recently put up a series of social media posts “featuring ammunition and guns.” One showed Mohamed himself “pointing an assault rifle at the camera and included the hashtag ‘#deathtoamerikkan&israelliImperialism.’”
No one has faced the implications of the fact that America is now home to large numbers of people who wish death to it, but they’ll have to be faced sooner or later. In the meantime, it appears that Mohamed was stopped from carrying out an imminent jihad attack, and for that, we can all be grateful. He has since been charged with “one count of felony theft and one count of felony threats of violence,” and his bail has been set at a million bucks “with no conditions, or $500,000 with conditions.”
Ahmed al Jabali, 34, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault as a hate crime last week in the Aug. 29 assault on Yonkers barber Slava Shushakova over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, prosecutors said Monday.
Shushakova told The Post after the attack that Jabali was having his beard trimmed at his Yonkers Avenue shop when he flew into a rage, telling the barber that “he has a right as a Muslim to punish Jews.”
Jabali, a Muslim originally from Yemen, was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to the lesser assault charge, with the judge promising him a six-year sentence. The charge carries a sentence of up to 15 years under state law.
“Hate has no home in Westchester County,” county District Attorney Susan Cacace said in a statement released Monday. “The rise in antisemitic hate over the last several years is disturbing and completely unacceptable.
“Today and every day, my office stands with the Jewish community of Westchester and will seek justice for victims of antisemitic violence,” the statement said.
Police said Shushakova needed 30 stitches to close the bloody gashes to his right hand and wrist that he suffered in the attack, which temporarily knocked him out of work.
“Thank God he didn’t touch my face because he tried to hit me different ways,” he said in the earlier interview. “This is how I stopped him, with my hands.”
The barber shop attack came during an Israeli military counteroffensive in the Gaza Strip following a sneak attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jabali is due to be sentenced by Judge James McCarty on May 29.
Bowling Green man found guilty of terrorism charges after joining, fighting for ISIS
June 24, 2024
[LouisvilleCourierJournal] A federal jury has found a man from southwestern Kentucky guilty of several terrorism charges related to his involvement with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and al-Sham, colloquially known as ISIS, the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Western District of Kentucky announced Wednesday.
Mirsad Hariz Adem Ramic, a 34-year-old from Bowling Green, has been charged with providing material support to ISIS and receiving military-type training from the organization. He faces a statutory maximum penalty of 50 years in prison, a fine of $750,000 and term of supervised release up to life.
Ramic is believed to have flown to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... with two other people in 2014, then traveled into Syria to join ISIS, which has been designated a foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. Secretary of State.
After joining ISIS, Ramic attended an ISIS training camp, where a photo of Ramic posted on social media depicted him "wearing camouflage clothing and standing in front of a truck outfitted with an anti-aircraft gun and the ISIS flag," according to a blurb.
Ramic, a dual U.S.-Bosnian citizen, then joined a fighting unit comprised primarily of Bosnian imported muscle and participated in ISIS’s offensive in Kobane, Syria.
He was brought into federal custody in December 2021 after being deported to the United States from Turkey.
His sentencing hearing has been set for September 24.
[IsraelTimes] Initial IDF probe finds Master Sgt. Asaf Cafri, 26, was hit by sniper fire close to military post in Israeli-held buffer zone, while the other troops were targeted by anti-tank fire
An Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, the military announced.
The Israel Defense Forces later named the slain soldier as Master Sgt. Asaf Cafri, 26, a tank driver in the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade’s 79th Battalion, from Beit Hashmonai. His family was notified.
In the same incident, a reservist in the 79th Battalion and an officer in the elite Yahalom combat engineering were seriously wounded. Another reservist, in the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade’s 8239th Battalion, was moderately hurt.
According to an initial IDF probe, Cafri was hit by sniper fire in the Beit Hanoun area, close to one of the military’s posts in the Israeli-held buffer zone.
The other troops were hit by anti-tank fire, according to the initial investigation.
The cell behind the attack apparently managed to flee.
The deadly incident took place not far from an attack on Saturday, in which Hamas operatives opened fire on an unarmored army vehicle, seriously wounding three soldiers, before planting a bomb in the area, which killed a soldier and seriously injured another.
That soldier, Warrant Officer G’haleb Sliman Alnasasra, was the first soldier to be killed since the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in Gaza lsat month.
Hours before announcing the death of the tank driver on Thursday, the IDF issued an evacuation warning to Palestinians residing in Beit Hanoun and the Sheikh Zayed neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip.
In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee published a map of the area that was to be evacuated, saying the warning came in light of sniper attacks on troops and other activity by terror groups in the area.
Palestinians were called upon to head for Gaza City.
Also Thursday, the IDF and Shin Bet said an airstrike in northern Gaza’s Jabalia a short while ago targeted a group of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives at a command center used by the terror groups.
Palestinian media reported that the strike targeted Jabalia’s former police station, and that at least nine people were killed.
According to the IDF, the site was used by the terror operatives to plan and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians and troops.
The IDF said it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including the use of a “precision munition, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.”
“The terror organizations systematically violate international law while taking over civilian infrastructure, and while brutally exploiting the civilian population as a human shield for its terror attacks,” the military added.
Meanwhile, video from the center of Gaza City showed an injured child among rubble, reportedly following an Israeli airstrike.
Osama Abu Rabee, a journalist in Gaza, published footage showing a wounded and bleeding child among the rubble of a building. The body of a man can be seen behind the child, who is calling for help. Abu Rabee also claimed that there were additional bodies of children on the scene of the strike.
According to reports from Gaza, the building was hit by an Israeli airstrike.
The Saudi Al-Arabiya channel reported that seven people were killed in the strike.
[IsraelTimes] In desperate push for removal of US sanctions, Islamist leader tells American lawmaker Syria wants to normalize ties with Jerusalem ‘under the right conditions’
New Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said that Damascus seeks to normalize ties with Israel, US Congressman Cory Mills
…(R-Florida), 82nd Airborne sergeant — Yugoslavia and Iraq, business owner …
told Bloomberg on Thursday after a meeting with him last week in Syria.
Mills said he held talks with Sharaa about the conditions for removing US-imposed economic sanctions, as well as the possibility of peace with Israel, according to the report.
Sharaa told Mills during their meeting that Syria is interested "under the right conditions" in joining the Abraham Accords — the series of normalization agreements that US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... ’s previous administration negotiated between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
According to Mills, Sharaa is also open to clarifying how he plans to address the presence of imported muscle still operating in Syria and offer guarantees to Israel, which remains deeply distrustful of the Syrian leader and opposes any easing of sanctions.
Syria’s new Islamist-led leadership has pushed for the US and Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... to fully lift sanctions so the country can kickstart an economy decimated by more than a decade of civil war.
Mills, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees, and US Congressman Marlin Stutzman
…(R), farmer, business owner….
of Indiana, both landed in Damascus on Friday to meet Syrian officials, the first visit by American politicians to the war-ravaged country since Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... was ousted from power by an Islamist-led rebel offensive in December.
Mills met with Sharaa, who is still under US and UN sanctions for his previous ties to al-Qaeda, on Friday night, during which the two discussed the US sanctions and Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... for some 90 minutes.
Mills told Bloomberg that he will bring Trump a letter from Sharaa, without providing details on its contents, and that he will brief the US president and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz after his trip.
"I am cautiously optimistic and look to maintain open dialogue," Mills said.
Mills and Stutzman, both members of Trump’s Republican party, toured parts of the Syrian capital destroyed by the war, met with Christian religious leaders, and said they planned to meet other Syrian government ministers.
"There’s an opportunity here — these opportunities come around once in a lifetime," Stutzman told Rooters. "I don’t want Syria pushed into the arms of China, or back into the arms of Russia and Iran."
Last month, the US gave Syria a list of conditions to fulfill in exchange for partial sanctions relief — including removing imported muscle from leadership roles — but the Trump administration has otherwise engaged little with the new rulers.
Stutzman said Syrians in Damascus spoke to him about Israel’s strikes on the country, which have targeted military sites in the south as well as around the capital. Israel has also sent ground troops into a buffer zone in southern Syria and has repeatedly expressed its distrust of Sharaa.
"My hope is that a strong government is established in Syria that is supportive of the people of Syria, and the people of Syria support the government — and that the relationship between Israel and Syria can be a strong relationship. I think that’s possible, honestly, I do," Stuzman said.
Among the conditions placed by the US to remove its sanctions on Syria is the destruction of any remaining chemical weapons
...have not been used since WWI except for in Iraq, by the late, unlamented Saddam Hussein and in Syria, but really, honest, not by the Syrian government. And in Germany in WWII, but that was against civilians. Lots of them, just one of many reasons Hitler's also late and unlamented... stores and cooperation on counter-terrorism, sources told Rooters last month.
In return for fulfilling all the demands, Washington would provide some sanctions relief, sources said. One specific action would be a two-year extension of an existing exemption for transactions with Syrian governing institutions and possibly the issuance of another exemption.
The US would also issue a statement supporting Syria’s territorial integrity, reported Rooters, adding that Washington did not provide a specific timeline for the conditions to be fulfilled.
SYRIA’S AIMS AND ISRAEL’S MISTRUST
In a past interview with The Economist in February, Sharaa explicitly said he doesn’t rule out regional normalization, but noted that accomplishing it with Israel is complex.
When asked if he could establish ties with Israel as part of a broad peace deal in the Middle East, Sharaa said his country "want[s] peace with all parties, but there is great sensitivity regarding the Israeli matter in the region."
He named the three major wars fought between Israel and Syria, and Israel’s control over the captured Golan Heights since 1967, as complicating issues.
Israel has since annexed the portion of the Golan Heights that it captured in 1967, and the move was recognized by Trump in his last term. However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... it has not been recognized by the rest of the international community.
"We entered Damascus only two months ago, and there are many priorities in front of us, so it is too early to discuss such a matter because it requires a wide public opinion. It also requires a lot of procedures and laws in order to discuss it, and to be honest, we have not considered it yet," Sharaa said at the time.
The report on Sharaa’s desire to join the Abraham Accords is not surprising, said Carmit Valensi, senior researcher on Syria and head of the northern arena program at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).
"Al-Sharaa has made several comments in recent months expressing an interest in peace with their [Syria’s] neighbors and saying they have no desire to enter into conflict with Israel," she told The Times of Israel.
Valensi acknowledged "the restrained and cautious policy" Sharaa has adopted toward Jerusalem, saying how "Despite the IDF’s presence in Syrian territory, despite the intense Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s and Israel’s demand to demilitarize southern Syria, [Syrian leaders] have not tried to act against or challenge Israel—in fact, they’ve generally maintained moderate rhetoric toward it."
A day after the fall of the Assad regime, Israel sent its troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights, where it now maintains a military presence. The IDF has described its presence in southern Syria’s buffer zone as a temporary and defensive measure, though Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that troops will remain deployed in the area "indefinitely."
Israel has repeatedly declared its mistrust of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... , the Islamist faction headed by Sharaa that toppled Assad and emerged from a group that was affiliated with al-Qaeda until it cut ties in 2016. Israel has also expressed its intention to prevent Syria from falling into the hands of any hostile regime.
Israeli and Ottoman Turkish delegations met in Azerbaijan earlier this month for Syria deconfliction talks aimed at preventing unwanted incidents as both countries’ militaries operate in the country.
Last month, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rebuked Sharaa and called for international condemnation of the actions of Syria’s new rulers, after reports that over a thousand civilians were massacred in the country’s Alawite heartland.
"They were jihadists and remain jihadists, even if some of their leaders have donned suits," said Sa’ar, referring to Sharaa.
TRUMP’S AMBITIONS AND THE "RIGHT CONDITIONS"
Trump vowed in March that more countries would be added to the Abraham Accords, speaking to news hounds at a cabinet meeting at the White House.
US Vice President JD Vance added that with the return of Trump to the White House, they are being tasked with "building out the Abraham Accords, adding new countries to it," and that while it’s "early, we’ve made a lot of progress."
Trump reiterated this on Thursday.
Asked whether he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump responded, "Maybe for the Abraham Accords."
Speaking to news hounds in the Oval Office, the American leader reiterated his claim that additional countries will normalize relations with Israel through brokering from the US. "We are going to be filling it up very rapidly... A lot of countries want to come into the Abraham Accords," he said.
"There’s no doubt that it takes a fair amount of courage to make such a statement," said Valensi about Sharaa’s expression of interest in normalizing ties with Israel.
"Sharaa is already facing serious criticism over the moderation process he’s undergoing, and that criticism is only going to intensify now. The question is the second part of the sentence: what does he consider the ’right conditions’? That’s what we’ll need to find out."
"I think it will be easier for [Syria] to move [toward normalization with Israel] if there’s also progress with Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... , so the move would be perceived as part of a regional trend," Valensi continued.
"As for the conditions, they could range from a minimal demand for troop withdrawal and a halt to attacks, to more strategic demands regarding the future of the Golan Heights—an Israeli withdrawal, or at the very least, a declaration of it as a demilitarized zone or under joint control."
In a sign that Sharaa was moving beyond talk, Paleostinian media reported Tuesday that the new Syrian regime arrested Khaled Khaled, in charge of the Syrian arena in the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... terror organization, and Abu Ali Yasser, responsible for the organization’s executive committee in Syria, though there was no official confirmation from Syrian authorities on the matter.
In an official statement, the PIJ said they were arrested in a manner "they wouldn’t expect" from Syria.
"The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction, after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week," Kash Patel posted.
"We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject, an illegal alien, to evade arrest."
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2025
11:16 ||
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[236 views]
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#1
Maybe he’ll run across some friends on the inside.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/25/2025 11:37
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#2
She’ll.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/25/2025 11:38
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Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/25/2025 12:15
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#5
I expect some federal judge will quickly issue a nationwide restraining order so the Trump's evil henchmen never arrest any judge, at any level, for any crime.
#1
if ever there was a job for robots and AI, this is it
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
04/25/2025 15:23
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#2
A Federal judge somewhere will file against Trump on this one by Monday or Tuesday. They've tasted blood and will not stop until Trump in neutralized.
[JustTheNews] Army officials at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Thursday night shut down the All American Gate, after a suspicious device was found in its vicinity.
Officials said the incident is contained but that the gate will remain closed until further notice as they investigate the device. Visitors to the base are encouraged to use alternative gates, but no additional details were immediately available.
Another long one with lots of details at the link.
[JustTheNews] Newly-declassified Crossfire Hurricane records reveal the key role that Andrew McCabe played in perpetuating the Russiagate hoax. There are still people who believe it.
Newly-declassified memos written by disgraced FBI official Andrew McCabe shine new light on how he kept the Trump-Russia collusion hoax investigation alive during a critical period in the first half of 2017 before he got it handed off to a special counsel.
The eight memos penned by McCabe, most of which had never been released until earlier this month, span his discussions and meetings (including with President Donald Trump) held from January 24, 2017 to May 21, 2017 — a critical time period ranging from just before the FBI sprung an interview on retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn to just after Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel. The memos were more fully declassified through efforts by Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this month.
McCabe was a stalwart ally of since-fired FBI Director James Comey, coordinated closely with since-fired FBI special agent Peter Strzok on the launch and the conduct of the flawed and politicized Crossfire Hurricane investigation, and relied heavily upon disgraced FBI lawyer Lisa Page as his close confidante.
Pushed the Steele dossier
McCabe and Comey had pushed in December 2016 to include British ex-spy Christopher Steele's debunked dossier in the body of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on alleged Russian meddling, but they were thwarted by the NSA and CIA. The dossier was eventually included in an annex to the assessment.
By early 2017, McCabe and the FBI knew that the Steele dossier was baseless. The FBI had offered Steele an “incentive” in October 2016 of up to $1 million if he could prove the allegations in his discredited anti-Trump dossier, but the former MI6 agent was unable to back up his claims. An FBI spreadsheet from December 2016 showed nothing of any substance from the dossier could be verified. The FBI had unearthed nothing derogatory on Flynn. And an early 2017 interview of Steele’s main source — Igor Danchenko — undercut the dossier’s collusion claims.
Yet despite the huge setbacks for Crossfire Hurricane, McCabe’s newly-declassified memos show how McCabe facilitated the FBI’s targeting of Flynn, met with Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about the Flynn allegations, refused to publicly shoot down false media stories on collusion, opened a collusion investigation into Trump himself after Comey was fired, kept the Trump-Russia investigation alive and escalated it as the acting FBI director, helped successfully push for a special counsel to take the reins, and more.
McCabe did not respond to a request for comment sent to him by Just the News through his LinkedIn.
January 24, 2017 — Mike Flynn’s call with McCabe
McCabe created his first memo related to a discussion he had with Flynn just before he was interviewed by FBI agents on January 24, 2017. Versions of the memo were previously released with various redactions in 2019 and 2020, but the version released this month has the fewest redactions yet.
The FBI had been plotting how to potentially prosecute Flynn related to his December 2016 call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, including potentially under the Logan Act.
McCabe said that “I told LTG Flynn that I had a sensitive matter to discuss. I explained that in light of the significant media coverage and public discussion about his recent contacts with Russian representatives, that Director Comey and I felt that we needed to have two of our agents sit down with the General and hear from him the details of those conversations. LTG Flynn asked if I was referring to his contacts with the Russian Ambassador to the United States, and indicated that I was.”
McCabe said in his memo that Flynn explained that he had been trying to "build relationships" with the Russians, and that he had calls in which he "exchanged condolences." McCabe said Flynn then stated that McCabe probably knew what was said in these calls because "you listen to everything they say."
McCabe said of his talk with Flynn that “I reiterated that in light of everything that has been said about these contacts, the important thing now was for us to hear directly from him what he said and how he felt about the conversations.”
Comey later admitted in 2018 that he took advantage of the chaos in the early days of Trump’s administration when he sent FBI special agents Peter Strzok and Joseph Pientka to talk to Flynn.
“I sent them,” Comey said to MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace, prompting laughter in the audience. “Something I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with in … a more organized administration. In the George W. Bush administration, for example, or the Obama administration.”
“In both of those administrations, there was process, and so, if the FBI wanted to send agents into the White House itself to interview a senior official, you would work through the White House counsel, and there’d be discussions and approvals and who would be there, and I thought, it’s early enough — let’s just send a couple guys over,” Comey added.
STRZOK OVERJOYED THAT FLYNN CASE NOT CLOSED
The Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the Flynn case in May 2020 stated that Strzok learned in early January 2017 that the Flynn case had not been closed despite the lack of evidence for keeping it open, and relayed the “serendipitously good” news to McCabe's special assistant Lisa Page, with whom Strzok was having an affair. Strzok remarked that “our utter incompetence actually helps us.” Strzok then instructed FBI agents to “keep it open for now” at the behest of “the 7th Floor” of the bureau.
The DOJ said that “the FBI kept open its counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn based solely on his calls with Kislyak — the only new information to arise since the FBI’s determination to close the case.” McCabe did not tell Flynn that he was being interviewed by the FBI as part of an investigation targeting the Trump campaign.
McCabe said in his memo that “LTG Flynn questioned how so much information had been made public and asked if we thought it had been leaked” and “I replied that we were quite concerned about what we perceived as significant leaks and that we were in the process of completing a referral to the Department of Justice requesting authority to initiate a leak investigation.” McCabe said that “I further indicated that these cases were hard to prove but that we thought the significance of this situation demanded a thorough review.”
[Daily Mail, where America sends its news] Israel is just sending their ambassador — they’re in the middle of fighting a regional war, and the fact that Pope Francis openly favoured Hamas, back before his ascension, made it harder.
[NYP] A senior Russian military general was killed Friday in a fiery car explosion in Moscow.
Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the main operations directorate of the Russian armed forces, died when the vehicle blew up in the town of Balashikha, Russian media reported.
The bomb had been planted in a parked car and was detonated remotely as the officer, who lived nearby, walked past, law enforcement sources said.
Footage captured a vehicle entirely engulfed in flames near an apartment building just moments after the explosion.
[FoxNews] Judge blocks 2 provisions from Trump's March executive order on election integrity.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday blocked a portion of President Donald Trump's executive order on election integrity, specifically provisions related to providing documentary proof of citizenship before being allowed to register to vote.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia handed down the order in response to lawsuits filed by three separate groups of plaintiffs over five different provisions in a March 25 Trump executive order relating to election integrity. While Kollar-Kotelly dismissed requests to block three of the provisions, requests to block two other provisions pertaining to a proof of citizenship requirement for voters were granted.
The first blocked provision sought to compel the Election Assistance Commission to amend standardized national voter registration forms to require documentary proof of citizenship. The second sought to require federal agencies offering voter registration to people on public assistance to "assess" the individual's citizenship status before doing so.
"Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States — not the President — with the authority to regulate federal elections. Consistent with that allocation of power, Congress is currently debating legislation that would effect many of the changes the President purports to order," Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton-appointee, wrote in her order. "No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order."
Kollar-Kotelly said she would not block the other provisions that the groups sought to challenge, which cover mail-in ballots and data collection on citizenship status, calling the challenges "premature" and indicating they would be best challenged at the state level.
Earlier this month, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a bill requiring proof-of-citizenship to vote in federal elections. The measure still must pass the Senate, however, before the president can sign it into law.
Meanwhile, 25 states are considering some form of proof-of-citizenship legislation, according to the Voting Rights Lab, which is tracking such legislation. In total, 15 state constitutions have explicit prohibitions against non-citizen voting.
In addition to Trump's proof-of-citizenship orders getting shot down, two other federal judges from Maryland and New Hampshire also shot down additional orders from the president related to ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in K-12 public schools on Thursday.
The rulings followed lawsuits filed by the National Education Association, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. The groups argued that making federal funding contingent on whether educators squash their DEI programs violates First Amendment rights granted by the Constitution.
#2
Judges have no mid-terms. I think it is worthwhile flushing out all the bad judges at this point.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/25/2025 11:43
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#3
Trump is building the argument for an overdue remaking of the judiciary. The recent arrests are a good backdrop.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/25/2025 12:16
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#4
^For some reason I've remembered a SF story I've read a long time ago. A tyrannical POTUS designated political assassination as a federal crime. Then started pardoning assassins of his political opponents.
[Meduza] ‘A raging meat grinder’ How a riot in Krasnodar highlights the Russian army’s desertion problem.
In Krasnodar, Russia, around one hundred soldiers detained on suspicion of desertion staged a riot in a bold escape attempt last week. Seven managed to break free — four were quickly recaptured, and three remain at large. RFE/RL’s Kavkaz.Realii looked into what sparked this mass attempt to flee and what it reveals about how the Russian army treats deserters. Meduza shares an abridged translation of the outlet’s reporting.
On the night of April 18-19, around 100 soldiers accused of desertion broke through a perimeter fence at the Krasnodar garrison commandant’s office in an attempt to escape. Police quickly placed the area under heightened security, blocking traffic and conducting vehicle searches.
Seven soldiers managed to escape, according to the Telegram channel Baza. Four were captured shortly afterward, while the remaining three are still at large.
Almost immediately after news of the escape attempt broke, activists from the Kuban Anti-War Committee said that law enforcement had been contacting local Telegram channel administrators, asking them to “keep quiet.” Official bodies, including the Defense Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and local authorities, haven’t commented on the situation. The Russian propaganda outlet RT reported that police were “looking into things.”
The escape attempt was driven by conditions of detention, according to the wife of one soldier held there and a lawyer representing two others. They told the Telegram channel Astra that dozens of soldiers had been living in tents for months, including during the winter. “They’re all drinking there; my husband was beaten three weeks ago, he was covered in bruises. I demanded that the injuries be documented [but there was] no investigation,” one source told Astra. “Some of those being held are category D [unfit for military service], some are missing an eye, some are missing limbs.”
A lawyer who spoke to Astra on condition of anonymity confirmed that some detainees had been held in the camp for more six months. “They live in tents outside. They’re given food. There’s an outdoor toilet, a shower. They’re behind a wire fence. They don’t leave the area, there’s morning [and] evening roll call. That’s it. More than a hundred people, and they do nothing,” the lawyer said.
The Kuban Anti-War Committee confirmed to Kavkaz.Realii that they had previously received reports about the deserters being held in Krasnodar, but their exact location was previously unknown. The Committee also highlighted that forced returns to the front lines, including through detention, have become widespread in the region.
HARLINGEN — The Rio Grande Valley’s airports are trying to offset revenue losses stemming from a drop in migrant travel.
In Harlingen, Valley International Airport’s revenues are down about 6%, with its $9.1 budget losing about $500,000 in revenue, with expenditures at $9.6 million, Bryan Wren, the airport’s assistant director of aviation, said.
"When we started the fiscal year, we were at break-even," Wren said.
Now, he said, the airport’s facing a $500,000 deficit.
Officials are attributing much of the revenue decline to a drop in migrant travel since President Donald Trump took office in January.
"The immigrants used to come through our airport using facilities, coming through the terminal, buying tickets, going up north with family," Wren said.
Most of the migrants traveling north were awaiting asylum hearings, he said.
After taking office, the Trump administration canceled the CBP One program, which allowed undocumented migrants to use a mobile app to submit information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection instead of waiting along a Southwest border port of entry, Rogelio Nunez, executive director of Casa de Proyecto Libertad in Harlingen, said.
"I call that collateral damage — big time," he said, referring to the drop in migrant travel’s economic impact.
At Valley International, the number of outbound passengers dropped to 120,596 from January to March 2025, down from 133,369 during the same period last year, records show.
In Brownsville, Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport’s number of outbound passengers dropped to 36,512 from January to March, down from 47,139 during the same period last year, records show.
"There has been a drop since the administration change," Gustavo Hernandez, an airport accountant, said. "The immigrant count from last year to this year is 6% down."
At McAllen-Miller International Airport, American Airlines’ passenger numbers dropped by nearly 5% in January, about 16% in February and about 1.25% in March, records show.
Meanwhile, the airport’s United Airlines’s passenger numbers were up about 7.5% in January before dropping by about 24.5% in February and falling about 43% in March, records show.
In McAllen, an increase in the number of flights over the past year has boosted airport numbers. Carriers such as Delta Air Lines, Allegiant, Aeromexico and Volaris also serve the airport.
From January to March, records show the airport’s passenger numbers stood at 142,713, up from 140,483 during the same period last year.
Posted by: Joe of the Jungle ||
04/25/2025
03:02 ||
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#1
Oh, how tragic for the Valley airports, crying over their half-million-dollar deficit because they can’t profit off Human trafficking of Illegal migrants anymore. Truly heartbreaking that the end of a program letting people flood our borders has cut into their snack bar sales. Maybe they can pivot to, I don’t know, actual tourism instead of banking on human Trafficking? Just a thought.
Posted by: Joe of the Jungle ||
04/25/2025 7:45
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#2
Yeah funny how when the slave trade dries up the slave traders go broke.
#3
"The immigrants used to come through our airport using facilities, coming through the terminal, buying tickets, going up north with family," Wren said.
Most of the migrants traveling north were awaiting asylum hearings, he said.
But don’t relax just yet. Because the man replacing Schwab—Peter Brabeck-Letmathe—is even worse. More on that in the next thread. (Hint: he once said water shouldn’t be a human right.) 17/18 pic.twitter.com/VcUssKHQki
[BBC] An Australian politician has been convicted of supplying drugs after he initially dismissed a video showing him snorting a white substance as a "deepfake".
Former South Australian Liberal party leader David Speirs was fined A$9,000 (£4311; $5,720) and ordered to complete 37.5 hours of community service by an Adelaide court on Thursday.
Speirs was arrested in September after footage of him snorting off a plate was published by News Corp. He initially denied wrongdoing and reportedly told the news outlet it was a "deepfake" and that he had never used cocaine.
However, he later admitted that was a lie and the ensuing scandal and charges led to his resignation from parliament.
Last month, Speirs pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine to two men in August.
Speirs' defence said he used drugs "as a form of escapism" from the stress of his work, but the offences did not occur in a work capacity.
The case had sparked intense media scrutiny, with prosecutors arguing that it was in the public's interest given Speirs' senior position in politics.
His lawyer had previously asked the court not to record the conviction so his client could travel overseas, but the magistrate said the offences were "too serious".
"The need for public denunciation for this type of offending and the need for general deterrence is too great to refrain from recording a conviction," magistrate Brian Nitschke said on Thursday.
Nitschke acknowledged Speirs' defence that the offences occurred during a time of stress but added it was "certainly no excuse".
Speirs stepped into the role of South Australia's Liberal leader in 2022 and had served 10 years as a member of parliament.
[VANGUARDNGR] Senior Special Assistant on Public Enlightenment to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress APC, Chief Oliver Okpala has fired back at a former chieftain of the party, Engr. Buba Galadima, describing him as a paperweight, incapable of influencing any real electoral victory.
Galadima had in a recent interview reportedly claimed that the National Chairman of APC, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has no electoral value, but Okpala said the former APC chieftain ''is a failed, rejected and frustrated politician without any base in Nigeria''.
''His past political record of mercantilism, political duplicity and incompetence clearly shows he has no space of existence in the current political landscape in the country'', he added.
Okpala wondered how Galadima could say that a man who has been a two-time Governor of a state like Kano and at present, chairman of the APC, lacks electoral value.
''His statement clearly portrays him as a mischievous personality, politically.
''We know galadima's garrulous and weightless antecedents and we are not surprised by this his baseless claims.
''He was a well known member of the Buhari Organization but always preferred to take skewed positions, that made all attempts of the organization to win elections futile. Is that the kind of person who would determine who has electoral value?
''Ganduje is a well known, tested and trusted, results-oriented technocrat and politician of high repute, who successfully led Kano for two uninterrupted terms.
''He is a man with infallible proof of performance across Kano and beyond. His developmental projects are still littered across Kano state, a testament to his unbroken connection with the people.
''Ganduje is a grassroots politician with results to show. Where are Galadima's results? He is a barren, outdated politician who has outlived his usefulness.
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04/25/2025
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[VANGUARDNGR] A Badagry Chief Magistrates' Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday remanded a 23-year-old man, Mautin Odun in prison custody, for allegedly defiling an eight-year-old girl.
Chief Magistrate Patrick Adekomaiya, ordered that Odu should be remanded in the Awarjigoh prison, Badagry, after he pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to defilement and unlawful touching.
He ordered that the case file should be duplicated and sent to the office of the Director for Public Prosecution, DPP, for legal advice.
Adekomaiya adjourned the case until June 3, for ruling on the bail application and for DPP legal advice.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Ayodele Adeosun, told the court that the defendant committed the offences on April 23, at 3p.m.., at Sikiru House, Tozunkanmeh, Ajara, Badagry, Lagos.
The prosecutor said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 261 and 263 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Turkey may experience a larger earthquake in the future than the one recorded in Istanbul on April 23. This was warned by Turkish seismologist Ahmet Ercan.
“Wednesday’s earthquake is a warning about an earthquake of magnitude 7–7.2 expected in the Thrace region, or a kind of training session before it,” RIA Novosti quoted the expert as saying.
According to him, a seismic event is expected between 2045 and 2075. The focus of the new earthquake will be located in the same place, at a depth of seven to 13 km, and the tremors will be 22 times more powerful, Ercan added.
The seismologist reassured citizens living in houses built after 1999. He replied that they should worry less, since stricter regulations for building houses were adopted that year.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the earthquake in western Turkey began at about 12:50 Moscow time on April 23 and lasted for about 10-15 seconds, followed by aftershocks. The tremors, felt in several provinces, caused panic in Istanbul. The source was located at a depth of almost 7 km underground.
The country's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed the magnitude of the earthquake and also said that Turkish authorities have begun assessing the damage from the incident.
The first seismic event was followed by another, weaker one. The magnitude of the second earthquake was about 3.9–4.2. It was recorded in the Silivri area of Istanbul.
According to the Istanbul Governor's Office, 151 people were injured in the earthquake, but there were no casualties as a result of the tremors.
The press services of Istanbul airports reported that flights are operating as usual after the earthquake. The Turkish Ministry of Transport stated that the transport infrastructure was not damaged by the seismic event. No damage or adverse effects were found on highways, airports, trains or the subway.
Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş has called on the country's institutions and citizens to be prepared for another earthquake that is already "on the doorstep."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The ash emission to a height of 11 km from the Kamchatka volcano Bezymyanny did not affect air traffic. This was reported by the press secretary of the Federal Air Transport Agency Artem Korenyako in the Telegram channel.
He stressed that air traffic safety in Kamchatka is fully ensured.
“The activity of the Bezymyanny volcano in Kamchatka did not affect the operation of flights to Yelizovo airport and transit flights of foreign carriers,” the statement said.
Rosaviatsia and the state corporation for air traffic management have stepped up monitoring of civil aviation operations in the region. In particular, information notices are being published for airspace users, the agency representative noted.
Since the morning of April 24, there has been a tendency for Bezymyanny's activity to decrease. The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team has downgraded the aviation hazard code from red to orange, Korenyako added.
Earlier, the Kamchatka Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that the ash plume over Bezymyanny (2882 m) rose to a height of 11 km above sea level. The plume spread to the northeast, deep into the peninsula. The department did not rule out minor ashfall in the area of the village of Klyuchi in the Ust-Kamchatsky District. The volcano was assigned a "red" aviation hazard code. Tourists were asked not to visit the vicinity of Bezymyanny.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, specialists recorded a glow in the summit crater of the Bezymyanny volcano. Before that, lava flows were observed on its slopes.
An eruption also began on Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the highest active volcano in Eurasia. On the night of April 21, a glow was recorded on the crater that lasted for several minutes.
[VANGUARDNGR] The Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan has confirmed the abduction of Rev. Fr Ibrahim Amos, Priest of St. Gerald Quasi Gay Pareeh, Kurmin Risga in Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
In a statement, Rev. Fr Jacob Shanet, Chancellor of Kafanchan Diocese, said the incident occurred at about 12:15 am on Thursday at the residence of the kidnapped priest in Kurmin Risga.
Shanet called for prayers for the safety of the priest, while urging the public to avoid taking the law into their hands.
''We will use every legitimate and available means to ensure that Rev. Fr Ibrahim Amos returns to us unharmed and in good health.
''May the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of priests and religious and all the angels continue to intercede for us and bring him back to us safe and sound,'' he added.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Amos' abduction is the latest in a series of attacks on clergymen in the South of Kaduna in recent times. (NAN)
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2025
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The tariff war means we’re dealing with this now instead of waiting until we’re actually in the middle of a war to restart domestic manufacturing of the stuff.
[ZeroHedge] The United States would deplete its munitions stockpile if it entered into genetic warfare against a global superpower, Anduril co-founder Trae Stephens warns.
Stephens, who co-founded of the cutting-edge defense startup alongside Palmer Luckey, dropped the chilling warning on Auren Hoffman’s World of DaaS podcast.
“The reality is, if we got into a hot conflict with a great power, we would run out of munitions in a week,” Stephens told Hoffman. “We’ve built these capabilities that are incredibly exquisite, incredibly custom, with really complicated supply chains.”
Stephens, who is also a partner at Peter Thiel’s venture capital fund Founders Fund, pointed out that the U.S. is struggling to supply Saudi Arabia with enough Patriot missiles to counter daily Houthi attacks, leaving the the Middle East Kingdom to seek out additional inventories from other nations due to limited availability.
“What that means is, our partner nations, like Saudi Arabia, for example, which is fighting this ongoing conflict with the Houthis—they’ve got stuff being shot into their sovereign territory, creating havoc on a daily basis,” Stephens explained. “We cannot sell them enough Patriot missiles. They literally have to go to other partner nations and try to buy their inventory of Patriot missiles”
Stephens also highlighted that in cases like Ukraine, the U.S. is rapidly depleting both its own and available inventories of military capabilities to support the war effort, with limited resupply options, as manufacturers resort to calling retirees back to rebuild assembly lines.
“Then you see situations like Ukraine, where we deplete not only the available inventory but also our own inventory of the capabilities we’re sending to support the war effort, with no ability to actually resupply,” the technology executive said. “The Primes are literally calling people out of retirement to rebuild assembly lines to make some of these capabilities.”
The AP reported back in November 2024:
The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are eating away at critical U.S. weapons stockpiles and could hamper the military’s ability to respond to China should a conflict arise in the Indo-Pacific, the top U.S. commander for that region said Tuesday. Head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Adm. Samuel Paparo cautioned Tuesday that the U.S. providing or selling billions of dollars worth of air defenses to both Ukraine and Israel is now impeding his ability to respond in the Indo-Pacific, such as if China invades Taiwan.
“It’s now eating into stocks, and to say otherwise would be dishonest,” Paparo told the Brookings Institution last year.
Stephens’ stark warning echoes a recent interview with Luckey, who stressed that rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing base is not only feasible but critical to counter rising global volatility.
“If we can't make the things that we need to maintain our quality of life, then we are actually just subservient to our adversaries,” Luckey, who leads Anduril as CEO, told legendary music producer Rick Rubin on his Tetragrammaton podcast.
“Is there a possibility that over time America could get back its manufacturing base? Absolutely,” Luckey told Rubin. “The problem that we did, I mean there's a million problems, but what we did is hollowed out our country by allowing China into the World Trade Organization and allowing American companies to outsource manufacturing to China without penalty, without import tariffs, without any reason to not do it.”
“Why wouldn't you, if you're allowed to just send it to another country where everything's cheap, where it's dirt cheap and there's no environmental regulations and no labor laws, why wouldn't you do that? And we've been able to get a bunch of cheap shit over the last 50 years as a result,” the startup billionaire added. “That has helped the United States. Everyone's able to buy cheap TVs and cheap cars and cheap stuff because of China's rise. The flip side of that is that there's no more manufacturing in the United States.”
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The ZSU has been holding back the Russian offensive in 10 directions since the beginning of the day.
The Russian army has organized dozens of assaults in the Pokrovsky direction. There are currently 16 battles underway.
Since the beginning of the current day, 98 combat clashes have occurred on the front. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report as of 16:00 on Thursday, April 24.
Thus, in the Kupyansk direction, the enemy attacked our troops' positions three times in the areas of Novaya Kruglyakovka, Zagryzovo and in the direction of Boguslavka. Two combat clashes are still ongoing.
In the Liman direction, the invading army attacked four times - in the direction of Olgovka, Ridkodub and near Torskoye.
In the Seversky direction, an enemy attack near Verkhnekamenskoye was successfully stopped. One combat clash in the Belogorovka area is still ongoing.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the enemy attacked 11 times in the areas of Chasovy Yar, Andreyevka and in the direction of Predtechino. Four combat clashes are still ongoing.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy attacked eight times in total - in the areas of Toretsk, Leonidovka and near Dilievka. Currently, four more clashes are ongoing.
In the Pokrovsk direction, the occupiers carried out 39 assaults in the areas of the settlements of Berezovka, Malinovka, Elizavetovka, Lisovka, Kotlino, Udachnoye, Novosergeevka, Uspenovka, Novoalexandrovka, Nadievka, Kotlyarovka, Andreevka, as well as in the direction of the settlements of Razliv, Pokrovsk, Novopavlovka, Chunyshino, Alekseyevka, Staraya Nikolaevka, Romanovka. The defense forces repelled 23 attacks, 16 clashes are still ongoing.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, the enemy attacked six times near the settlements of Konstantinopol and Privolnoye.
In the Orekhov direction, the enemy attempted to advance seven times near the settlements of Novodanilovka, Malye Shcherbaki, Stepovoye, Shcherbaki and towards Malaya Tokmachka. The settlement of Primorskoye was subjected to an air strike.
In the Dnieper direction, three enemy attempts to advance forward were successfully stopped.
In the operational zone in Kursk region, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine repelled 13 attacks by Russian troops.
Let us recall that in the course of 24 hours on April 23, Russia lost more than 1,000 soldiers killed and wounded at the front. The total losses of the Russian army are approaching 1 million people.
[VANGUARDNGR] Transgender women have been banned from the female category of Ultimate Pool Group (UPG) events following last week's UK Supreme Court ruling. "Too many balls on the table!"
The sport in this country has been mired in controversy over its transgender inclusion policies.
Trans woman Harriet Haynes is suing the English Blackball Pool Federation (EBPF) after it changed its rules to ban trans women from its female category.
A group of female players had challenged the UPG and World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF) rules which allowed Trans women to compete.
The Supreme Court declared last week that the words ''woman and sex'' in the Equality Act 2010 referred to a biological woman and biological sex.
The UPG changed course however, and became the first sports body to update its policies since.
The UPG also said the change in policy was prompted by receipt of a report which confirmed pool was a gender-affected sport under the Equality Act.
It therefore permits the lawful exclusion of athletes based on sex.
''Since its inception UPG has been caught in a vacuum of uncertainty surrounding the issue of eligibility to participate in its women's series,'' the announcement from UPG read.
''The clear conclusion of the biological and cue sports expert who jointly authored the report was that eight ball pool was a gender-affected sport.
That was in cue sports female players have unique disadvantages compared to male players and that transgender women retain male advantages.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Pakistan will regard India's attempt to divert the flow of water from the Indus River as an act of war. This was stated by the country's National Security Committee.
"Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water, or usurp the rights of lower riparian states, will be considered an act of war," the department said in a decision published by Dawn.
The committee also said that trade with India, including to and from any other country via Pakistan, is being suspended. Islamabad is also stopping all visas under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) visa waiver scheme. Visas issued to Indian citizens are now considered cancelled.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, following the meeting of the Pakistani Security Council, which was held in connection with New Delhi's reaction to the terrorist attack in the Indian part of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan decided to close its airspace to India. The press service of the country's Prime Minister's Secretariat clarified that this decision concerns all Indian or Indian-run airlines.
In addition, Pakistan is closing the Wagah crossing point with immediate effect. All cross-border transit from India via this route shall be suspended without exception. Those who have crossed the border with the appropriate permits may return through this crossing point, but not later than April 30.
On April 22, gunmen opened fire in the city of Pahalgam. They opened fire on tourists who were horse riding. At least 27 people were killed, including foreigners, women and elderly people. The attackers managed to escape.
According to the News18 TV channel, the Lashkar-e-Taiba group (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) claimed responsibility for the attack.
That evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Indian President Droupadhi Murmu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the terrorist attack near the city of Pahalgam. The Russian leader also confirmed his readiness to further increase cooperation with Indian partners in the fight against all forms and manifestations of terrorism.
Posted by: badanov ||
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[DailyWire] According to the FBI, some Venezuelan government officials, in order to erode public safety in the United States, “likely facilitate” the migration of Tren de Aragua gang members to the United States.
Tren de Aragua has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration.
The Venezuelan move to destabilize other countries also includes Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, Fox News Digital reported, adding, “The FBI assesses that in the next six to 18 months, Venezuelan government officials likely will attempt to leverage Tren de Aragua members in the United States as proxy actors to threaten, abduct and kill members of the Venezuelan diaspora in the United States who are vocal critics of [Venezuala President Nicolás] Maduro and his regime.”
“These findings should shock Americans but not the law enforcement community,” an unnamed Trump administration official told Fox Digital. “They reflect the sentiments of numerous other intelligence assessments across multiple agencies. Nicholas Maduro is a Marxist dictator who hijacked a once-prosperous Venezuela and brought in nothing but total economic collapse and gang takeover. He crumbled Caracas, now overrun with drugs and violence, and wants to do the same across the United States by sending his most violent and dangerous criminals into our communities.”
“The Trump administration will continue to use every authority in our power to make sure these TdA terrorists, who are some of the worst in the world, are kept out of our country,” the official continued. “The American people voted overwhelmingly to make America safe again, and that is exactly what we will do.”
On April 18, the Associated Press reported, “A new U.S. intelligence assessment found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements that Trump administration officials have made to justify their invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan migrants, according to U.S. officials. The classified assessment from the National Intelligence Council, released this month, is more comprehensive and authoritative than an earlier intelligence product released Feb. 26 and reported last month by The New York Times.”
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard reacted harshly, writing on X:
The weaponization of intelligence to undermine the President’s agenda is an assault on democracy. Those behind this illegal leak of classified intelligence, twisted and manipulated to convey the exact opposite finding, will be held accountable under the full force of the law. Rooting out this politicization of intelligence is exactly what President Trump campaigned on and what Americans overwhelmingly voted for. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence fully supports the assessment that the foreign terrorist organization, Tren De Aragua, is acting with the support of the Maduro Regime, and thus subject to arrest, detention and removal as alien enemies of the United States.
An official from the office of DNI said the information Fox News Digital was reporting was “based on intelligence that the illegal leakers and propaganda media conveniently did not include because it gets in the way of their biased narrative and attempt to deceive the American people.”
Posted by: NoMoreBS ||
04/25/2025
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Does the CIA still do wet work? I mean on non-Americans?
[FoxNews] Plan had called for the Navy to use 100% emissions-free vehicles by 2035
The Navy will no longer pursue a zero-emissions goal instituted under the Biden administration, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan announced on Wednesday.
"We need to focus on having a lethal and ready naval force, unimpeded by ideologically motivated regulations," Phelan said in a video announcing he would rescind the Navy Climate Action 2030 Plan.
The plan had called for the Navy to use 100% emissions-free vehicles by 2035 and to use 100% carbon pollution-free electricity sources by 2030, with a 65% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions.
Naval installations all along the coast are threatened by rising sea levels and increased storms, Meredith Berger, the former assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment, argued at the time.
"2030 is the marker that we laid down initially because the scientific community and others have said that this is the decade of decisive action, and so we’re taking that very seriously," she told reporters.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth applauded Phelan’s move in a post on X: "Well done."
Under Biden’s Navy secretary, Carlos del Toro, the service branch produced a 32-page document deeming climate change "one of the most destabilizing forces of our time."
It laid out a series of climate change-related threats to the Navy: destructive storms, black flag days at or above 90 degrees Fahrenheit where strenuous training is curtailed, and strains on the energy grid as people compete for power. The document followed Biden’s own bold plan to make the U.S. economy net-zero-emissions by 2050.
During the Obama administration, then-Navy Sec. Ray Mabus launched an effort dubbed the "Great Green Fleet," aimed at renewable energy sources for warships. The effort was canned by the first Trump administration in 2017.
In February, Hegseth ordered Pentagon agencies to identify 8% of their budget that could be cut, "low-impact and low-priority" Biden-era programs, and the funding redirected to Trump priorities.
Programs that could be on the chopping block include "so-called 'climate change' and other woke programs, as well as excessive bureaucracy," according to Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses.
. @SecDef "No more social engineering. No more climate change worship. No more electric tanks. No more gender confusion. No more pronouns. No more excuses. No more quotas.
No more WOKE bullsh*t that undermines commanders and command climates. We are laser focused on our mission… pic.twitter.com/02v9OTHDij
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] Jordan's political landscape is rapidly changing. Following the revelation of a secret "missile factory" by the security services, the kingdom's authorities have decided to completely ban the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood* group.
The decision was made almost instantly - literally a few days after the publication of details of the defeat of the failed underground missilemen. Most of the country's residents did not question the harsh reaction to the conspiracy.
At the same time, there is a high probability that, in addition to issues of national security, the foreign policy ambitions of official Amman played a role in the final defeat of the Brotherhood.
"BROTHERS" IN JORDAN
The Muslim Brotherhood has been active in Jordan for over eighty years, from the mid-1940s until recently, and was considered a serious political force.
The group had hidden influence over the country's civilian and military elites and even attempted several times to overthrow King Abdullah II.
The royal court responded in kind, with searches and arrests, as well as the temporary closure of individual offices of the group, and tightened control over its financial flows and political course.
However, for most of the time, both forces existed in a state of "cold peace".
Clouds began to gather over the group on April 21, when attacks against the Muslim Brotherhood began to be heard from the rostrum of the Jordanian parliament one after another.
Representatives of various political forces, both those close to the court and those who consider themselves part of the moderate opposition, accused the group of trying to sow discord and plunge Jordanian society into civil war, and to create a new “terrorist enclave” on the territory of the kingdom.
POLITICAL STORM
The accusations were prompted by reports from Jordanian security forces about the arrest in mid-April of a large group of underground fighters affiliated with the Brotherhood.
At an abandoned facility in the northwest of the country (dubbed the "rocket factory"), the conspirators manufactured homemade missiles and UAVs, and stockpiled weapons and explosives, all of which they allegedly intended to use against the authorities soon.
The deputies, clearly impressed by the scale of the secret arsenals, called on the Islamic Action Front (considered the political wing of the Brotherhood) sitting in parliament to publicly condemn the group's activities and even renounce them. Otherwise, the entire faction (31 deputies) risked losing their mandates in one fell swoop "for assisting the conspirators."
And although the speaker of parliament, Ahmad al-Safaadi, tried to soften the emotional attacks of some of his colleagues, the mistrust of the Front did not diminish, even taking into account the fact that some deputies complied with the demands and condemned the course of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The public defeat of the Brotherhood was completed by the Kingdom's Interior Minister Mazen Faraya. At a special briefing on April 23, he announced that due to the attempted anti-government conspiracy, the movement's activities in Jordan were completely banned. Any public support for the group - including online campaigning for it - would henceforth be prosecuted.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s attempts to defuse the crisis and present the activities of the detained underground fighters as “purely independent” and “separated” from all official structures have led to nothing.
THE PALESTINIAN INCIDENT
The Jordanian authorities not only dissolved the organization, but also confiscated its property and closed all its offices in the country.
At least five activists of the movement were detained "pending clarification of the circumstances." However, they were quickly released without any new charges.
It was not only the Muslim Brotherhood that came under attack from official Amman.
In parallel with the closure of the group's offices, Jordanian law enforcement officials began an operation against the Palestinian Hamas.
At least three mid-level Palestinian officials who were in the country legally were arrested in the past 24 hours and taken to al-Jandaweel prison, which has a reputation for being political.
It is also noteworthy that several days before this, several Palestinians from the Islamic Jihad faction were arrested in neighboring Syria.
The arrest was carried out by the authorities under the pretext of the Palestinians' cooperation with "anti-government forces," which shocked them quite a bit: "Islamic Jihad" and other factions felt quite comfortable in Syria not only during the Assad dynasty, but also after its overthrow, and they showed no intention of conflicting with the new Damascus.
PREPARING THE SOIL
Outside observers tend to link the two episodes together and interpret them as preparing the ground for the launch of negotiations on normalizing relations between Syria and Israel in the spirit of the Abraham Accords.
And Jordan, as one of Israel's oldest Arab "friends," is quite capable of playing the role of mediator and providing channels of communication between Damascus and Tel Aviv. Especially since interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has declared his readiness for détente with the Israelis at least several times.
In addition, Jordan has significant strategic autonomy in organizing the negotiations and has no claims against either the Syrian or Israeli side, and is less focused on the interests of its neighbors. The same Saudi Arabia and Qatar are not in a hurry to get involved in mediation, fearing to cause discontent in Iran and Turkey.
The success of the new “Abrahamic” negotiations will not only raise Jordan’s prestige in the eyes of the US and Israel, but will also open up vast opportunities for the kingdom to strengthen its presence in the Syrian market – primarily in the energy sector, where the Turks currently hold virtually undivided sway.
However, for the successful implementation of such a combination, official Amman needs to keep all internal forces under complete control. In order to quickly extinguish any discontent with the change in the political balance.
And the Muslim Brotherhood, which is under conditional control, as well as the Islamic Action Front affiliated with them (which is also one of the largest consolidated political forces in parliament) could seriously stir up the public. And in a tactical alliance with Hamas, they could also turn the Palestinian communities living in the country against the throne.
Amman does not want to risk the stability of the dynasty for the sake of dubious political benefits, and therefore chose to solve the problem effectively, taking the confrontation with the “Brothers” beyond the political in advance.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/25/2025
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The MB is a front for the Qatar/Iran/Russia axis.
Did the Trump administration give Jordan some assurances in their challenging a much more powerful alliance or is this a reaction to Trump's rapprochement with Qatar/Iran/Russia a la Witkoff?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Savin
[REGNUM] On April 22, in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, unidentified men emerged from a forest near the town of Pahalwam and opened fire on a group of civilians, including tourists, with automatic weapons. According to Indian estimates, 27 people were killed and dozens more were wounded. A little-known group called Kashmir Resistance claimed responsibility.
New Delhi, however, blamed Pakistan directly and immediately expelled Pakistani diplomats, closed the border (the only land checkpoint, Wagah, operates between Lahore and Amritsar) and cancelled visas for all Pakistani citizens.
In addition, the water treaty, which obliges the parties not to restrict river flows - the Indus, Jhelum, Ravi and Chenab flow into Pakistan from India - was denounced. To top it all off, India has launched counter-terrorism operations in the Kashmir Valley and along the Line of Control.
Pakistan, for its part, said the allegations were baseless and in violation of bilateral agreements and UN Security Council resolutions. Indian military advisers in Pakistan were declared persona non grata, visas for Indian citizens were cancelled, and the armed forces were put on alert.
Pakistani airspace is now closed to Indian aircraft. Economic interaction, including contacts through third countries, has been completely suspended.
The Pakistani Prime Minister's office also issued a statement: if India restricts water supplies to Pakistan, it will be considered a military action and any means may be used in response. And the Pakistani stock exchange responded to the incident by falling indicators.
The escalation is obvious, although its real causes are clearly politicized by the Indian side. Pakistan has also suffered from the actions of various extremist and separatist groups for many years, and the annual number of victims in the country is significantly higher than in India.
Well, mutual accusations and placing blame on the intelligence services of the opposing country are commonplace, since the two states have been at odds since the very beginning of their independence from Britain in 1947.
Putting aside historical grievances, the most pressing question is how India, which is much stronger than Pakistan economically and militarily, will behave. But since Pakistan has nuclear weapons, there is a risk of further escalation. It is no coincidence that year after year, Western experts have identified Kashmir as a potential hotbed of regional war.
Assuming that New Delhi follows the logic of previous precedents, India may well launch a limited retaliatory strike. The only question is where and at whom?
The most recent major attack took place in February 2019 in Pulwama, south Kashmir, when a suicide bomber drove up to a police convoy and detonated an explosive device. More than 40 people were killed.
That time, the Jaish-e-Mohammed group claimed responsibility, while India struck in Azad Kashmir, a formally independent quasi-state under Islamabad's protection.
According to a wry Pakistani comment, the strike then “hit trees.” Although India said precision weapons were used to attack a terrorist training camp, there were no casualties on the other side of the Line of Control.
As for the Indian-controlled territory of Kashmir (in addition to the Pakistani part, another historical part of this former princely state is under the control of China, an ally of Pakistan), its special status was revoked in 2019, which led to the loss of some rights by the indigenous people.
As a revenge for this action, which led to a change in the demographic balance, the "Kashmir Resistance" carried out its action. And, probably, the dissatisfied will continue to try to somehow resist the pressure from New Delhi.
In this case, there are interesting nuances that are worth paying attention to.
First, Indian Kashmir is one of the most militarized zones in the world. There are 700,000 Indian soldiers, police, and security personnel on its territory. If they managed to miss such a terrorist attack, then this is a serious failure. And, in addition to the repressive measures promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, some cabinet reshuffles should follow.
Secondly, the attack occurred during the visit of US Vice President J.D. Vance, who publicly called on India to buy more American weapons. As is known, Vance's wife is of Indian origin.
In Pakistan itself, there is concern that the attack was nothing more than a false flag operation to justify some radical measures, like those carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip. The “Islamic fundamentalism” narrative, given the historic US war on terror and the current position of the White House, could help. And India could benefit not only from diplomatic solidarity between the US and Israel, but also from their military assistance.
On April 24, a military transport plane flew from the US Air Force base in Qatar to India, which Pakistan also regarded as part of some secret plan directed against it, and possibly China. It should also be noted that the military leadership in Pakistan is now closely connected with the British lobby, which is quite critical of the Trump administration.
If we look objectively at the terrorist threats to India, then, in addition to the long-standing problem in Kashmir itself, India has other vulnerable points. One of them is Punjab, where some Sikhs are interested in creating an independent state of Khalistan.
The other is central and eastern India, where the so-called Naxalite belt stretches from south to north. There are armed Maoist groups there, against whom the government is fighting. And while the state of Jammu and Kashmir is conducting a counter-terrorism operation, similar measures are being taken against the Naxalites in another part of the country.
And according to official data, in the Bastar region of the small central state of Chhattisgarh alone, 1,623 civilians were killed by Maoists between 2021 and 2024, and another 228 were killed by explosive devices. Security forces lost 1,292 people.
Based on these figures alone, it can be concluded that violent deaths in Kashmir were far fewer than those caused by leftist extremists. At the same time, India does not officially accuse China or any other leftist governments of supporting these groups.
Probably, in this sense, Pakistan acts in a more familiar role of opponent for the Indian leadership, which is not forgotten by the historical memory of the first (1947-1949) and second (1965) Indo-Pakistani wars for Kashmir, as well as the Kargil War (1999). And the establishment of direct contact with the US administration on the one hand and membership in such structures as BRICS and the SCO on the other significantly expand India's ability to dictate its geopolitical interests.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] "There was a cemetery in those fir trees. We went in there, there was a grave from the 70s, and next to it were soldiers' boots sticking out of the ground," Zhora points out the sights to the rumble and clank of a well-worn caterpillar tractor.
He himself got into the search at the call of his heart - his own grandfather died not far from here. He came to meet the searchers who work in the Smolensk region, and stayed. He says he got attached, found "his" people, he only regrets that it didn't happen earlier.
And protruding boots are a common sight in these parts, Red Army soldiers who died in the battles of the summer and autumn of 1941 are lying everywhere. They were used for plowing and sowing, for building houses, their bones were thrown into village trash bins, soldiers are lying in the same places where they repaired equipment - at motor and tractor stations.
The settlement has long since disappeared, an open field. But the metal detector and probe clearly show - here are bricks from some building, here are all sorts of plows and gears, and next to it is a pit with those who "gave their lives so that we could live."
The pathos of newspaper editorials and official speeches was always far from the reality, in which there was simply no one to bury the dead - after the war, only women and teenagers remained, surviving with great difficulty.
They earned their workdays by filling trenches and cells for the daily chores of the collective farm while all the men were at the front, and then those who remained alive served out their service. They plowed the land with themselves and the few cattle. There was no one to drag the rotting corpses and there was no reason. And then it somehow became boring, forgotten, there was no time: the plan had to be fulfilled.
Perhaps the villages and farmsteads disappeared without a trace, unable to withstand the freedom that fell upon them after the collapse of the Union, and for that reason too. Because of the injustice towards their soldiers, patiently waiting to be pulled out of the swamp and buried humanely, year after year, decade after decade.
Since there was no time, no desire, no impulse of conscience, someone from above decided that there was no point in fighters being neighbors with such people. That is how the current Great Wasteland came to be, where here and there lie the named and the nameless, "in anatomical order" and beaten by shrapnel, absorbed by the swamp until completely dissolved, torn apart by animals and plows.
Those who died in the offensive battles of the Battle of Smolensk in an attempt to prevent a breakthrough of German troops in the Moscow direction.
And we are shaking on the "armor" through the Smolensk jungle, periodically diving into tasty mud baths to eliminate this injustice. The search team "Height named after Dmitry Syachin" has been working in this area for a very long time, but there is no end in sight. Therefore, on the site of one of the disappeared villages, a base camp appeared with a huge structure for cooking and eating, a bathhouse and other amenities.
For work and equipment.
There is nothing better than a caterpillar here, this has been proven in practice.
The only thing is that you can only ride it from above, where branches with cheerful green foliage are constantly trying to blow you down to the sinful earth. From the last populated area to the place - seven kilometers, for each new party of searchers you have to run either on this very GTS or on the legendary "Karakat", assembled like Frankenstein's monster, from a variety of cars.
Its owner is also a legendary figure - Uncle Vova is a local, a villager, he has been digging practically since infancy and periodically pokes into space with his hand with stubs of fingers, cut off by a circular saw. There, all the ditches were filled with German boxes, here they found a machine gun, and here everything was strewn with mines.
“I defused thousands of them, whatever you want,” he boasts, recalling his youth, when “three-monthers” were sent to demining, young guys who had been voluntarily and forcibly trained in sapper courses.
But Uncle Vova is self-taught, and apart from two fingers on his other hand, torn off by a detonator, he has no losses. Searching is his passion. While his health allowed, he could even wander through the forest for three days in winter, taking an hour's nap by the fire. Like all post-war children, he grew up in the midst of a war that had stuffed the earth with iron and people.
Many people here collected weapons, poached, and stunned fish with TNT. But few were interested in Soviet soldiers. But Uncle Vova (who insists on keeping things simple and calling him simply "Nikolaich") is priceless in this regard.
"Karakat" on huge tractor wheels is completely autonomous, you can sleep in it and there is a stove. Therefore, at any time of the year, with the same passion, a man of many talents and an interesting biography breaks through overgrown roads, cuts down fallen trees, explores new places, with a simple device finds the first fighters, around whom others are sure to be found.
On this basis, Uncle Vova laughingly scolds the city dwellers who come: "I woke up early, cleared my throat, went and dug. I come back - they're asleep. I went again in the other direction and dug. I come back - they're asleep again."
But we honestly get up no later than eight. You can't lie there any longer anyway, the whole forest starts ringing with bird voices with the first rays of the sun, bumblebees hum loudly above the tent and a fresh wind rises, flapping the awning like a sail.
Even though it's Easter and you can't work, it's not considered a sin to look for fighters. So we head out to a well-known place not far from the camp. The squad leader Ilya Podkolzin is racing through the jungle like the swift-footed elf Legolas, Uncle Zhora is stomping behind him, cursing, and I'm already dragging myself behind him, shuffling heavily in my unfamiliar rubber boots.
You can't do without boots here, as well as without tracked vehicles, water stands everywhere after fresh April snowfalls. And in the deep ravine where Ilya leads us, there is a real quagmire of healing black mud, in which you can go knee-deep.
"The events here took place in August 1941. One of the regiments of the 251st Rifle Division was advancing here. The fighters were seeping through the ravines and then heading for a German stronghold located on the hill slightly to the right. Another stronghold was behind the village of Pochinok-Vtoroy. And the Germans took these fortifications for a long time and bloodily, " the commander shows what is here and how. " In practice, the fuss here probably lasted for about a month until they drove ours out of here. We have already raised more than a hundred fighters here on these lines."
The high-rise building in the wilds is not visible, only when you pass it with your feet, it is clear that you are descending. And the Red Army soldiers, under the deadly fire of enemy artillery and mortars, tried to hide in this very ravine, cut by forest streams.
It turned out to be a natural "trench", along the upper edge of which shallow trenches are visible here and there, but all empty. The old excavations are all right along the riverbed, and after wandering through the forest, we still return to this place, poking probes into any holes and just into the ground.
This technology usually means that the fighters have a minimum of metal, and a metal rod with a “bullet” and a cross handle is a classic search tool.
An experienced hand and a trained ear will immediately determine what is knocking - a bone, a piece of iron, wood, metal. Although Zhora immediately tells with sadistic pleasure the story of how the whole team uprooted a century-old spruce, under which there were "absolutely correct" knocks, but it turned out to be a stone and a rotten root.
But this time everything worked out as it should.
While we were wandering along the tributary of the stream, Ilya, who had run off to check the rifle pits somewhere to the side, returned and "snitched" the soldier right at the entrance to our ravine. About forty centimeters of semi-liquid mud, then clay - and there he is. He is lying on his back, his legs folded in a strange way, his head is broken, his femur at the joint has cracked into three parts. Right there, the deadly fragment is brazenly turning red, standing out against the black background - the bastard who took the soldier's life. Deeper into the ground.
The soldier's belongings include a trouser belt, a brand new, unsmoked mess tin under his back, and tarpaulin boots.
The boot tops were amazingly preserved in the swamp, which is a rare case for tarpaulin. The swamp is generally an excellent preservative, any experienced searcher will recall cases when brains or hair were preserved in the remains, here it is appropriate to click your tongue with respect and shake your head.
But there was no medallion or anything signed.
The most interesting thing here is the archaeological clearing. On one side is a slope that you have to bite into to have a place to sit down, on the other is a stream that is trying to add water to the excavation, and as an honorary prize - tons of high-quality sticky mud that does not want to part with the shovel. Then you crawl along it to the banner on which the remains are laid out - in such soil it is easy to lose something without noticing.
And that's how it turned out.
As we trudged back to the camp, having fairly divided the load, I suddenly discovered something hard in my boot. It rolled back and forth, alternately pressing on my heel and then my foot, and just wouldn’t find its place. I had to pull off the rubber to discover to my surprise… the phalanx of my little finger inside. Apparently it had stuck to my gloves and fallen out of the boot.
Have you ever had a human finger rub your foot? Well, I have another one added to my collection of scary stories.
Although a person gets used to everything, and the constant proximity to death eventually ceases to cling. The soldiers who died 84 years ago are practically as alive as the men who are noisily smoking nearby, you don’t expect any threat from them, just as you don’t expect it from your comrades. You can also talk to them, they are the most grateful listeners. And then they are often remembered in conversations around the campfire: “Do you remember that one from the ravine? The one with the glass flask.”
We have an even relationship: you came to help them return from the war as brothers and don't expect any favors in return. Moreover, they have already done their part in full, and we owe them this. And when you are dying from the heat or screaming obscenities, waving off fat horseflies that mercilessly gnaw every living creature, or rolling around up to your ears in mud somewhere - there is always an understanding that it was much harder for them.
That generation had to endure sufferings that were beyond our capacity. Even this torment after death, when soldiers lie unburied for decades, like a heavy seal. Who else is so patient with God?
Perhaps the search movement was inspired by our Lord. He chooses among people those who have a living conscience and directs them to where restless warriors are waiting. An ordinary person sees a forest or a field before him, but the one who is led by an invisible hand sees sinkholes in the ground, sagging trenches, a rotted cartridge case, pulled off the parapet by a plough.
For some reason he is drawn to poke the probe exactly where the bone will knock familiarly or a characteristic depression will appear. And the heart will jump as if for the first time: "There is a fighter!"
And if you're lucky, you're supposed to shout at the top of your lungs: "A medallion!" So that everyone runs to look at the black pencil case or some ampoule with a piece of paper inside, to rejoice, to hope that they'll be able to read it. Although we've seen this many times.
Every spring, people in military gear and rubber boots flock to the Great Wasteland to dig into the ground again and again, digging up soldiers' bones and names. So that injustice can at least be eradicated. And it doesn't matter how many years have passed - the main thing is that everyone is found.
[VANGUARDNGR] All Pak citizens in India must leave the country by April 29, New Delhi's foreign ministry said Thursday, in the latest diplomatic measure taken after an attack it blames on Islamabad.
''In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Government of India has decided to suspend visa services to Pak nationals with immediate effect'' the statement read. ''All Pak nationals currently in India must leave India before the expiry of visas, as now amended.''
It will not impact Pak diplomats in New Delhi, although their numbers were reduced by Indian orders a day earlier.
[VANGUARDNGR] 19 passengers in two fully loaded commercial buses have been taken hostage by suspected armed herdsmen at Jor community along the Adoka-Naka road, in Gwer West Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue state.
It was gathered that the two ill fated buses were waylaid Thursday morning in separate incidents at the same spot, three kilometres from Naka town, the headquarters of Gwer West LGA.
According to the sources in the area, one of the commercial vehicles was en route to Makurdi from Akpa in Kogi State when the driver ran into the ambush by armed herdsmen while the second vehicle was en route to Lokoja also in Kogi State from Makurdi when they ran into the ambush at the same spot few minutes later.
The Ter Tyoshin and Chairman of Gwer West Traditional Council, HRH, Daniel Abomtse, who confirmed the development, said the information at his disposal indicated that two vehicles were involved and each of the vehicles had 12 passengers on board.
He said ''I was told that each of the vehicles carried about 12 passengers but an elderly woman, a breast feeding woman, her two kids and a driver were not taken away.
''The passengers and driver who were not taken away reported at the Police station but they have just been released by the police.''
The Secretary of National Union of Road Transport Worker, NURTW, High level Unit, which is the main park of commercial vehicles on that route, Mr. Yakubu Onu confirmed the incidents.
He also confirmed that the spared passengers reported at the Naka Police Station and were later asked to continue their journey ''but we are yet to hear from them and also yet to get further information from those coming from Ankpa.''
Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Chief Superintendent, CSP, Catherine Anene said she was yet to receive information on the incident.
[VANGUARDNGR] The Ministry of Defence has reaffirmed the Nigerian government's commitment to enhancing military cooperation with the State of Israel.
The Permanent Secretary, Amb. Gabriel Aduda, gave the commitment during a courtesy visit by the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, at the Ministry's Headquarters in Abuja.
Aduda, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, said the two countries had discussed strategies towards bolstering defence cooperation, strengthening mutual security frameworks, and exploring opportunities for enhanced military training and capacity building within the Nigerian Armed Forces.
He highlighted the critical need to deepen defence ties in the light of evolving global security challenges.
The Permanent Secretary emphasised the importance of strategic areas such as joint operations, knowledge exchange, and the modernisation of defence cooperation.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2025
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[VANGUARDNGR] A U.S. citizen is scheduled to be executed in Alabama on Thursday evening after dropping his appeals, saying he was guilty of raping and murdering a woman in 2010.
The convict said he did not want to keep ''wasting everybody's time'' and money.
James Osgood, 55, will be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. CDT at William Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.
This will make him join the approximately one in 10 people on death rows across America who have asked for their own executions.
A jury convicted Osgood of capital murder for the killing of Tracy Lynn Brown in Chilton County.
Prosecutors said Osgood cut Brown's throat after he and his girlfriend sexually assaulted her.
Osgood told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that he wanted to apologise to Brown's family and that he dropped his appeals because, ''I am guilty of murder.''
In a letter to his lawyer explaining his decision to seek an execution date, he wrote that he was tired and no longer felt like he was ''even existing.''
''I'm a firm believer in, like I said in court, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I took a life so mine was forfeited.
''I don't believe in sitting here and wasting everybody's time and everybody's money,'' Osgood told the AP.
Brown was found dead in her home on Oct. 23, 2010.
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Mahyar Tousi is a journalist and podcaster whose father is in hiding in Iran. He stands against rising Islamism, but police in the UK have been trying to stop him from speaking out.
[IsraelTimes] Rubio says US looking to avoid war, but will do whatever necessary to stop Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons; satellite images show regime fortifying buried nuclear facilities
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... said Wednesday that US President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... is determined to prevent Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... from attaining a nuclear weapon, and would prefer to do that by negotiations as opposed to military means. However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome... he said the US would be willing to see Tehran have a civilian nuclear program as long as it was not enriching uranium.
"We do not want a war," Rubio told Bari Weiss on her Honestly podcast.
"We do not want to see war. This is not a president that campaigned on starting wars. And as he said very clearly, Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon, and he reserves every right to prevent that from happening, but he would prefer it not happen. He would prefer that there not be a need to resort to military force, either by us or anybody else. He would prefer that it’d be something that we can negotiate."
Rubio offered a vote of confidence in US special envoy Steve Witkoff, the leading American representative in the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran, saying "We have good people negotiating."
"The Iranians have shown a willingness to talk. We’re going to talk to them," stressed Rubio, adding that "if Iran wants a civil nuclear program, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one. That is, they import enriched material."
Rubio emphasized how "complex" a war with Iran would be, explaining that, "Any military action at this point in the Middle East, whether it’s against Iran by us or anybody else, could in fact trigger a broader conflict."
"They have spent billions of dollars developing military capabilities that we’re seeing, for example, being used in Ukraine right now, with drones and the like," he noted.
A third round of US-Iran nuclear talks is scheduled for Saturday in Oman.
IRAN DOUBLES DOWN ON DEFENSE
While Washington asserts Iran’s openness to a nuclear deal that could prevent military confrontation, Tehran is ringing two deeply buried tunnel complexes with a massive security perimeter linked to its main nuclear facility amid US and Israeli threats of attack, a report said Wednesday.
The Institute for Science and International Security released its report based on recent satellite imagery as the US and Iran prepare for this weekend’s talks.
Trump, who pulled the US out of a 2015 pact designed to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, has threatened to bomb Iran unless a deal is quickly reached that would ensure that same goal.
Trump’s withdrawal prompted Iran to breach many of the pact’s restraints. Western powers suspect it is pursuing the capability to assemble a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies.
David Albright, the institute president, said the new perimeter suggested that the tunnel complexes, under construction beneath Mt. Kolang Gaz La for several years, could become operational relatively soon.
Tehran has not allowed UN nuclear inspectors access to the complexes, Albright said.
That has raised concerns that they could be used to store Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium or undeclared nuclear materials, and advanced centrifuges that could quickly purify enough uranium for a bomb, he said.
Iran has said that advanced centrifuges would be assembled in one complex in place of a facility at the nearby Natanz plant, the centerpiece of its nuclear program, which it said was destroyed by sabotage in 2020.
The complexes, Albright said, are being built at depths much greater than Iran’s deeply buried uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, near the holy city of Qom.
Commercial satellite images taken on March 29 showed hardened entrances to the complexes, high wall panels erected along the verges of a graded road encircling the mountain peak, and excavations for the installation of more panels, the report said.
The north side of the perimeter joins the Natanz plant security ring, it said.
The ongoing construction at the complexes appears to underscore Tehran’s rejection of demands that any talks with the US lead to the total dismantlement of its nuclear program, saying it has the right to peaceful nuclear technology.
Israel has not ruled out a strike on Tehran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that any talks must lead to the complete dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, referring to concerns about the vulnerability of the country’s nuclear program, on Tuesday appeared to refer to projects such as the construction of the new security perimeter around the tunnel complexes.
"Efforts are ongoing" to "expand protective measures" at nuclear facilities, Eslami was quoted by Iranian state media as saying.
CHINA IN THE MIX
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited China on Wednesday for consultations ahead of the talks in Oman, which will be led by Araghchi and Witkoff.
A technical meeting between nuclear experts from the two countries will also be held on Saturday in the Omani capital of Muscat.
"It is necessary for us to keep our friends in China informed of developments and to consult with them," Araghchi told Iranian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
He said it was too early to judge the outcome of Iran-US talks, but that negotiations were going in the right direction.
China was a party to the 2015 nuclear agreement before Trump abandoned the arrangement.
"China has played an important and constructive role on the nuclear issue in the past, and the same role is certainly necessary in the future," the Iranian minister added.
TEHRAN ACCUSES US, ISRAEL OF UNDERMINING PROGRESS Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues... Iran’s foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned new US sanctions targeting its oil network, calling the move a sign of Washington’s "hostile approach" ahead of continued talks.
In a statement, Foreign Ministry front man Esmaeil Baqaei said the US policy of imposing sanctions on the Iranian people was a "clear contradiction with the United States’ demand for dialogue and negotiation and indicates America’s lack of goodwill and seriousness in this regard."
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[FoxNews] sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, with a judge describing him as "irreparably corrupt and beyond any rehabilitation."
given seven consecutive sentences of natural life in prison
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Russia's overnight strike on Kyiv was the largest ballistic missile attack of the war.
On the night of Thursday, April 24, the Russian army carried out the largest-scale attack on Kyiv during the entire full-scale war using ballistic missiles. The strike was combined: North Korean KN-23s, cruise missiles and "shaheeds" were launched almost simultaneously.
The official report of the Ukrainian Air Force states that the Russians used 11 ballistic missiles, which were launched from sites in the Bryansk, Voronezh and Kursk regions of Russia. Seven missiles were shot down by air defense systems.
As for other threats, 31 of 37 Kh-101 cruise missiles launched by Tu-95MS bombers were neutralized, all four Kh-59/Kh-69 missiles. Six of 12 sea-based Kalibr cruise missiles were shot down, but none of the six Iskander-K cruise missiles. In addition, the Russians used 145 "shaheeds", 13 of which were not destroyed.
The missile that killed eight people in Kiev's Svyatoshinsky district was North Korean, Defense Express reports , citing sources who have already examined the debris. A video of the KN-23 falling into a residential area of Kiev has spread on social media, showing another cloud from the explosion.
Journalists note that even if a ballistic missile is hit, it still falls and if the warhead is not destroyed, it detonates on the ground.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's intelligence service stated that Russia had modified the KN-23 to achieve greater accuracy and reliability. Apparently, as the media believes, the adjustments made by Russian specialists allow the enemy to more actively use the KN-23 to strike targets such as "residential areas." The goal of such attacks is to sow panic and kill the civilian population of Ukraine.
"HOLES" IN THE AIR DEFENSE
Today's attack on Kyiv was the largest in terms of the use of ballistics, said the CEO of the company producing electronic warfare equipment, aviation expert Anatoly Khrapchinsky. He recalled how last year during one attack the enemy used about 10 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles, but that strike was dispersed across almost the entire territory of Ukraine.
"We must not forget the recent ballistic shelling of Kiev, when we intercepted a small number of missiles, and this was due to a change in the missile's flight trajectory at the last stage. That is, additional maneuvers that did not allow us to intercept. Now we see that most of the ballistic missiles were intercepted. We say that our air defense is adapting to the enemy's modern requirements," Khrapchinsky said on the air of the Public .
At the same time, the expert adds that the enemy sees "holes" in the Ukrainian air defense system and is trying to work on them, including by loading it with cruise missiles. In his opinion, the enemy's extremely complex actions require systems for detecting any air targets.
"IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE"
The consequences of today's shelling of the capital could have been worse if all the ballistic missiles had hit, says the representative of the Ukrainian Air Force Command Yuriy Ignat. In general, he called the work of the air defense at night "a pretty good result."
"Of course, there are terrible consequences of the Russian attack... Hitting cities with millions of people with ballistic missiles is not just a crime, it is terrorism. It is hard to imagine what would have happened if all those ballistic missiles that were launched today, first of all, at the capital of Ukraine, had reached their targets," he noted.
The Air Force representative also noted the work of Ukrainian tactical aviation: "These are F-16, Mirage pilots, they gave good results today. Several dozen air targets were shot down by our Ukrainian pilots. We want to once again note in the Air Force that the effectiveness of Western aircraft is quite high today."
At the same time, according to him, the F-16 and Mirage, as well as the old fleet of Soviet aircraft, can only shoot down targets that fly along an aerodynamic trajectory, that is, cruise missiles and drones, and, unfortunately, only the Patriot systems work on ballistics.
Spoiler alert: it’s measles. Generally speaking, infectious and dangerous are inversely related.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news. Health officials are sounding the alarm over a potential measles exposure at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
An infected infant visited the airport's S Concourse with their family, potentially exposing others to the world's most infectious disease.
The person was at the airport - the largest in the Pacific North West, and one of the busiest in America - on April 17 between 4:50pm to 7:45pm.
The individual also passed through the customs and baggage claim areas before exiting through the south end of main terminal.
They later visited Seattle Children's Emergency Department after developing symptoms on April 17, 18 and 20, and they were admitted on April 20. Their condition remains unknown.
Officials are warning anyone who fears they may have been exposed to contact their health provider and monitor for symptoms in what is the latest in a string of measles scares to rock America's major airports.
It marks the fifth case of measles in Washington state this year, three of which have been infants.
In the past month, New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport and John F. Kennedy airport along with hubs in Washington DC and Los Angeles were all plunged into chaos over measles alerts.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22:35 During the 11 years of war with Russia, Ukraine has lost many territories and it will be very difficult to get them back. In particular, this concerns Crimea. This was stated by US President Donald Trump.
"It has nothing to do with me, Crimea. It was 11 years ago for the Obamas. And they made a decision. There was no shot fired. There was no fighting. There was nothing. They just handed it over. Now they say, 'Can you get it back?' I think it will be very difficult to do. I think it was very difficult to do. It was done by Barack Obama when he was president, and Donald Trump," he said.
22.16 According to preliminary information available to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia's attack on Kiev on April 24, which killed at least 12 people, was carried out by a ballistic missile produced by the DPRK.
"Our special services are checking all the details. If the information about the production of this missile in North Korea is confirmed, this will be further evidence of the criminality of the alliance between Russia and Pyongyang. They kill people and mock life together - this is the only meaning of their cooperation. Russia constantly uses such weapons - missiles, artillery. At the same time, Pyongyang has received the opportunity in real war conditions to make its weapons more deadly," the head of state said.
21.12 The US has a specific deadline for achieving peace between Ukraine and Russia. This was stated by US President Donald Trump.
The American leader expressed his conviction that Kyiv and Moscow "both want peace, but they must sit down at the negotiating table."
"We've been waiting a very long time. They have to sit down at the negotiating table. And I think we'll get peace... We have a deadline. And after that, our attitude (towards a peaceful settlement - ed.) will be very different, but I think we have a very good chance of doing it (achieving peace - ed.)," Trump emphasized.
20:55 Ukraine views the United States as a strong strategic partner and would like to have a common understanding that Russia is an aggressor, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with American journalist Ben Shapiro.
"We know that the United States has a position of a mediator in this conflict. And this is the choice that the United States made. But we consider the United States as a strong strategic partner that has influence. And we would very much like these two forces to be used against Russia, so that the force would be directed at the Russian Federation, because it is the aggressor. And we would very much like to have a common understanding that Russia is the aggressor, and not us," the head of state said.
20.30 According to the results of the forensic examination, the cause of death of journalist Victoria Roshchina, who died in Russian captivity, could not be established due to the condition of the body. At the same time, numerous signs of torture were found on Victoria's body. This was reported by the head of the War Department of the Prosecutor General's Office, Yuri Belousov.
"The victim's body showed numerous signs of torture and cruel treatment, in particular abrasions and hemorrhages on various parts of the body, and a broken rib. And the experts also saw possible signs of the use of electric current. This information will also be clarified during an additional forensic examination," he said.
20.23 An underground school-shelter designed for 700 people was opened in the village of Molodezhnoye in the Odessa region. It was built from scratch on the basis of the Molodezhnoye Lyceum. This was reported by Ukrinform
The dual-use radiation shelter was built under a programme initiated and financed by the European Union. Co-financing was provided by the Irish Government. The total cost of the project is €2.4 million, of which €75,000 was allocated for the interior fittings.
19:50 The United States will demand that Russia recognize Ukraine's right to its own armed forces and defense industry as part of a broader peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev, Bloomberg reports, citing sources.
It is noted that US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff will raise issues of the Ukrainian army and defense industry at a meeting with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
The publication notes that agreeing to a properly equipped and staffed army, as demanded by Ukraine and its European allies, would mean that Putin would have to abandon one of his declared goals of a full-scale invasion – the demilitarization of Ukraine.
18.55 US President Donald Trump's words "about Ukraine's loss of Crimea" are fully consistent with Russia's position on this issue. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this in a comment to Russian media.
18:47 UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine and Humanitarian Coordinator Matthias Schmale strongly condemned the Russian shelling of Kiev.
"The nighttime massive shelling of residential areas of Kyiv and surrounding settlements by the armed forces of the Russian Federation is another violation of international humanitarian law, which causes outrage... Civilians should never be targets. This unjustified use of force must be stopped," he stressed.
17:50 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv reported that the Russian attack killed a brother and sister, children of a neurologist at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv’s University Clinic, Yaroslav Kozlov, Nikita and Sofia. They were 21 and 19 years old, respectively.
Nikita, born in 2003, was a student at the National Transport University. Sofia, born in 2005, graduated from the professional college of the Kyiv National University of Technology and Design.
17:45 Rescuers have freed two more bodies from under the rubble in the Svyatoshinsky district of Kiev. The death toll now stands at 12.
17.15 In Kiev, rescuers have freed the body of another person from under the rubble. The death toll from the Russian strike on the capital has risen to 10 people, with 90 injured. Emergency rescue operations are ongoing.
16.56 In the Kurgan region of the Russian Federation, the regional court sentenced a former law enforcement officer, a local resident, for allegedly passing information about Russian servicemen to Ukrainian military intelligence. This was reported by the FSB, as reported by Russian media. It is noted that the defendant was sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment in a maximum security penal colony, followed by a restriction of freedom for a period of 1 year. He was also fined 200 thousand rubles. The sentence has entered into legal force.
16.49 The number of people killed in Kiev as a result of Russian shelling has increased. Nine victims are already known. Rescuers have pulled the body of a 27-year-old girl from under the rubble of a house in the Svyatoshinsky district. It is also known that among the dead are two children born in 2003 and 2005 from the same family.
The number of victims has risen to 90. Of these, 44 people are in hospitals.
Search and recovery operations continue after the Russian strike on the residential building. There may still be people under the rubble.
15.47 US President Donald Trump is "not happy" with the large-scale Russian missile and drone strike on Kiev on Thursday night. He published a corresponding harsh statement on his social network Truth Social.
15.19 President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia's night attack on Kiev one of the most difficult and linked it to Russia's desire to put pressure on the United States. He said this at a joint press conference with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa following talks in Pretoria.
15.14 Eight residents of Poltava sought medical help after the Russian attack on the night of April 24. Three of them are in hospitals. This was reported by the acting mayor of Poltava, Ekaterina Yamshchikova, on Telegram.
According to her, as of now, damage has been recorded to 128 objects, including 33 apartment buildings and 85 private houses. In total, 468 households with 580 residents were damaged, 810 windows were damaged.
14.57 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy handed over to South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa a list of 400 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, calling on South Africa to facilitate their return. He announced this during a joint press conference on Thursday, April 24.
14.38 Special Operations Forces servicemen destroyed a platoon of North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation. The number of Koreans exceeded three times. The video of the battle was published by the Special Operations Forces Command.
The SOF operators engaged a 25-man enemy platoon - three times their number - in close combat and maintained the initiative until the battle was over.
14.19 EU High Representative Kaja Kallas stressed that it is Russia, which dealt a deadly blow to Kiev, that is an obstacle to peace. She reported this on Platform X.
13.49 The Cabinet of Ministers has agreed to simplify the procedure for the production and purchase of explosives and their components for the production of ammunition for manufacturers that do not have government contracts. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Strategic Industries.
13.42 A Russian radar station was destroyed on the outskirts of the village of Razdolnoye in temporarily occupied Crimea on Monday, April 21. This was reported by the monitoring Telegram channel "Krymsky Veter".
12:44 Sixteen thousand people, including 1,600 children, were buried in the Kiev metro during the massive combined shelling of the capital by Russian invaders. The Lukyanovskaya station, namely the glass dome and the facade, was damaged by the attack of the invaders. This was reported by the press service of the Kyiv Metro Municipal Enterprise.
12.27 Russia seems to be ready for a "peace agreement", but it is more difficult to reach an agreement with Ukraine. This was stated by US President Donald Trump the day before during a conversation with journalists in the Oval Office.
12.24 Due to the latest Russian strikes on civilians in Ukraine, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is convening a special permanent council, declaring the need to hold Russia accountable in order to achieve a just peace, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said.
12.13 The Security Service detained a Russian citizen and his accomplice who were spying on the positions of the Defense Forces in the Sumy region, preparing a route for the breakthrough of enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups from the Bryansk region. This was reported by the SBU press service.
In order to plan the route of the enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups to "bypass" the positions of the Defense Forces, the Russian had to discover the locations of Ukrainian troops on the border of the Shostka district.
12:05 Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets reported that on the eve of Easter, the Ukrainian and Russian sides began delivering letters from families and parcels from the International Committee of the Red Cross to prisoners of war.
11:42 Ukraine has managed to return the body of journalist Victoria Roshchina, who was killed in Russian captivity. This was reported by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Leonid Timchenko.
11:16 Since the start of the full-scale war, Russia has killed 13,000 Ukrainian civilians, including 618 children, and carried out 1,700 attacks on schools, more than 780 attacks on hospitals, more than 30 massive and hundreds of smaller attacks on energy. For this, the aggressor country must pay a double price , Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.
10.57 President Volodymyr Zelensky has decided to shorten his visit to the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and immediately return to Ukraine due to Russia's massive missile and drone attack. He reported this on Telegram.
10.28 The Central Wedding Palace in Kiev was damaged by a Russian missile attack. Windows were knocked out and the interior was damaged. This was reported by the Ministry of Justice on its Telegram channel.
10.23 On Thursday night, Russian aggressors launched 70 missiles and 145 drones of various types at Ukraine. Most of them were intercepted by air defense or were affected by electronic warfare. The Ukrainian Air Force reported details of the attack repulsion.
9.59 Rescuers have pulled a living man out from under the rubble of a house destroyed by Russian war criminals. We are talking about one of the houses in the Svyatoshinsky district of Kiev. This was reported by the spokesman for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kiev, Pavel Petrov.
9.53 In Zhytomyr Oblast, as a result of combined Russian air attacks, a rescuer was injured and the State Emergency Service equipment was damaged. This was reported by the head of the Zhytomyr OVO, Vitaliy Bunechko. Private garages were also damaged and a fire broke out. The blast wave blew out windows in several apartment buildings.
9.46 Russian occupiers launched a combined attack on Kiev at night. The invaders launched various types of missiles and drones. This was reported by the head of the Kiev City Military Administration Timur Tkachenko on Telegram.
9.22 In the Khmelnytsky region, as a result of a Russian missile attack, two people were injured and a gas distribution point was damaged. This was reported on April 24 by the head of the Khmelnytsky regional state administration, Serhiy Tyurin.
8.43 The Donald Trump administration has presented Kiev with a plan for an agreement with favorable conditions for Moscow. However, the idea of America recognizing Russia's sovereignty over Crimea and Ukraine's refusal to join NATO is unacceptable to the EU, the Financial Times reports.
8.27 The rescue operation in the Svyatoshinsky district of Kiev continues: phone calls are heard from under the rubble of the house destroyed by the Russians, two children are being searched for. This was reported by the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Klimenko on his Telegram channel.
7.56 The Russian army has lost 1,060 soldiers at the front over the past 24 hours. This is stated in the morning report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
7.25 The occupiers have brought 11 ships, including missile carriers, into the Black Sea. This was reported by the Ukrainian Naval Forces (Ukrainian Navy) on Facebook.
05.15 US President Donald Trump has announced his readiness to meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and has announced the approximate dates for the talks. The head of the White House suggested that he would meet with Putin shortly after his trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in May.
04.55 The Norwegian government has announced an increase in support for Ukraine, allocating NOK 2.4 billion (around $157 million – ed.) to the Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Fund (URTF) established by the World Bank. The total amount of Norwegian assistance through the URTF has already exceeded NOK 9 billion (US$592 million – ed.), which is more than a third of the fund’s total funding. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre stressed that support for Ukraine remains a strategic priority.
04.13 On Wednesday, April 23, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine received a new batch of engineering equipment from South Korea, which included dump trucks and bulldozers. In particular, rescuers received dump trucks and bulldozers. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine noted that this equipment will significantly enhance the capabilities in eliminating the consequences of emergency situations and conducting emergency rescue operations.
03.24 Russian occupiers hit Kharkov with rockets twice at night. There were more than 20 explosions in total. As a result of the last "arrival", civilians were injured. The strike hit a densely populated area. Windows were knocked out in several multi-story buildings. That's where the injured were.
01.11 On the night of April 24, Russians launched ballistic missiles, Kalibr cruise missiles, and attack UAVs at Ukrainian territory. The invaders struck Kiev. According to preliminary data, more than 50 people were injured in the strike, and there were fatalities. In the capital, according to Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, a fire broke out in a residential building in the Svyatoshinsky district. There is destruction, and there may be people under the rubble.
00.45 Ukraine needs $17.3 billion for priority recovery in 2025. However, only $7.4 billion of this amount has been raised. This was reported by Deputy Finance Minister of Ukraine Olha Zykova. The official explained that these $7.4 billion were raised thanks to the state budget and donor support. So now another $10 billion is missing. According to Zykova, the priority areas for financing rapid recovery are housing, energy, social and critical infrastructure (transport, heat and water supply), as well as social protection.
[KhaamaPress] Germany has suspended Afghan refugee transfers from Pakistain until the new government takes office, affecting thousands awaiting relocation.
Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday, April 23, that it would suspend Afghan refugee flights for two weeks until the formation of the new government. Thousands of Afghans, including former employees of German institutions who have received asylum, are currently awaiting transfer to Germany from Pakistain.
The suspension comes after a decision by Germany’s new coalition government, which agreed to limit "illegal" migration in response to public protests following violent mostly peaceful attacks attributed to migrants colonists. The new government will decide on future Afghan refugee resettlements once in office.
In 2021, following the chaotic withdrawal of Western allies from Afghanistan, Germany launched several resettlement programs aimed at protecting local staff who had worked for German institutions and humanitarian organizations. These programs were designed to offer asylum to vulnerable Afghan workers and their families.
To date, Germany has accepted 36,000 individuals through these programs, including over 20,000 former local employees and their families. Currently, around 2,600 people are awaiting transfer to Germany, with 350 of them being former local employees.
The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the confirmations issued for these individuals are legally binding, and can only be revoked under special circumstances. In recent weeks, several chartered flights have been conducted to transfer Afghan refugees from Pakistain to Germany, though these flights have faced criticism from conservative politicians.
Human rights organizations have expressed concern over the impact of the flight suspension, with some warning that it could endanger vulnerable Afghan refugees. Pro Asyl, a refugee rights group, cautioned that delaying the transfers could put the lives of at-risk individuals at further risk.
As the new government prepares to take office, officials have called for a careful review of refugee resettlement policies to balance security concerns with humanitarian obligations. The situation remains fluid, and there is growing pressure for a clear and consistent approach to Afghan refugee admissions.
[KhaamaPress] Indian authorities uncovered a drug trafficking network smuggling heroin to fund Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...> Indian security authorities have uncovered a large-scale drug trafficking network with alleged links to terrorism, seizing nearly 2,988 kilograms of heroin smuggled from Afghanistan to the Mundra Port in Gujarat
...where rioting seems to be a traditional passtime... . Officials report that the operation was part of a broader effort to fund Death Eater activities.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced on Wednesday, April 23, that the proceeds from the seized heroin were intended to finance terrorist operations carried out by the group Lashkar-e-Taiba. The agency emphasized the cross-border dimensions of the case, describing it as a "narco-terrorism" network.
According to the NIA, the drugs entered India through Iran’s Bandar Abbas port, disguised as shipments of unprocessed stones and coal. Authorities said forged import documents were used to conceal the true nature of the cargo.
A protected witness revealed that Latif Rather, a now-deceased member of "The Resistance® Front" — a Lashkar-e-Taiba affiliate — had coordinated with Afghan and Pak traffickers to channel funds for arms purchases. His involvement is seen as a key link between narcotics trade and krazed killer financing.
In a troubling development, the NIA also reported that a key witness in the case — a retired customs officer — was found dead under suspicious circumstances after expressing willingness to cooperate with Sherlocks. His death has raised concerns about the safety of informants in high-profile terror-linked cases.
Officials said that at least six similar consignments are believed to have entered India through the same network. Twelve suspects, including individuals from Iran, Pakistain, Afghanistan, and Dubai, are currently under investigation or being pursued by authorities.
This case highlights growing concerns over the use of drug trafficking to finance terrorism in South Asia. Indian officials have called for greater regional cooperation and tighter port surveillance to prevent similar operations.
Security analysts warn that narco-terrorism poses a serious threat to national and regional stability, urging international collaboration to dismantle such transnational criminal networks.
[KhaamaPress] Over 200 Afghan refugees in Iowa have been ordered by U.S. authorities to leave the country immediately, facing legal action.
American media reports indicate that in April, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent emails to over 200 Afghan refugees residing in Iowa, instructing them to leave the country immediately.
According to Axios, the emails, sent by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, begin with the statement, "It is time to leave the United States." The messages warned that failure to leave voluntarily would result in detention, revocation of work permits, and potential legal action. One of the emails accessed by Axios concludes with the message, "Do not attempt to remain in the United States, the federal government will find you."
These warnings were directed at refugees who entered the U.S. legally under humanitarian programs or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) after the U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan and Kabul fell in 2021.
The Afghan Allies in Iowa organization, led by Zabihullah Safi, has stated that many of the recipients of these emails are former soldiers who fought alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan, putting them at risk of retaliation by the Taliban ...Arabic for students... . Safi emphasized that these individuals have become active members of the community in Iowa, working, paying taxes, and having their children enrolled in schools and universities.
According to Axios, this action is part of a broader federal policy to end the temporary humanitarian parole status granted to Afghan refugees in 2021 and 2022. More than 900 such refugees were granted this status in Iowa.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed this development in a statement to Axios, asserting, "The presence of foreign nationals in the United States is a privilege, not a right. We act in the interests of the country and enforce the law."
These developments reflect the ongoing challenges faced by Afghan refugees in the U.S. and the complexities of immigration policy, as well as the broader debate over humanitarian aid and asylum policies. As these issues unfold, many Afghan refugees in the U.S. remain in limbo, caught between their past sacrifices and uncertain futures.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] In May, Ukraine may default on a payment of about $600 million, since the republic failed to agree on debt restructuring. This is reported by the British newspaper The Financial Times (FT), citing the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance.
"Ukraine said on Thursday it had failed to reach an agreement with holders of $2.6 billion in debt, denting its hopes of a restructuring before the repayment deadline next month," the publication said.
It is specified that in May Kyiv will be obliged to pay about $600 million on securities that are tied to the republic’s GDP.
"Kiev will have to decide whether to default on a payment due at the end of May if it fails to reach a restructuring agreement in time," the article also noted.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance stated that they will consider all available options.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, in January 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Kiev is happily “chewing on investors’ money” and is in no hurry to lift the ban on negotiations with Moscow, although its sponsors are calling for this.
In February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also emphasized that the IMF and the World Bank were setting records in supporting the Kiev regime, allocating loans and credits that were many times greater than the funds provided to African and other developing countries. Ukraine has become a blatant example of disproportionate growth in military spending while absorbing hundreds of billions of dollars in aid, the minister noted.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] scientists have released the most detailed photo of our sun yet – and it gives a close-up glimpse of its intense magnetic energy.
The image was captured by the world’s most powerful solar telescope, which takes 2D snapshots of the sun at a range of wavelengths.
Several hundred images are taken in just a few seconds by three synchronised cameras using different settings – similar to taking a series of photographs using different filters.
Combining these images allows for a 3D view of the sun’s structures – as seen in this remarkable picture.
The newly released image reveals a cluster of sunspots on the Sun’s surface, measuring approximately 25,000km by 25,000km.
Sunspots - areas of intense magnetic activity - often lead to solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which are what is responsible for our Northern Light displays on Earth.
The image achieves a spatial resolution of 10km per pixel – showing the sunspots in unprecedented detail.
The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope was first installed at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) near the summit of Maui’s Haleakalā volcano in 2022.
It has now achieved ‘first light’ – used to describe the first time a telescope lens is exposed to the night sky – with its most advanced instrument, the new Visible Tunable Filter (VTF).
Designed and built in Germany, the VTF arrived at the observatory last year and has since been carefully installed.
It weighs 5.6 tons and has a footprint roughly the size of a small garage, occupying two floors.
While it is not yet fully operational, science verification and commissioning are expected to begin in 2026.
‘Seeing those first spectral scans was a surreal moment,’ said Dr. Stacey Sueoka, Senior Optical Engineer at the observatory.
‘This is something no other instrument in the telescope can achieve in the same way.
‘It marked the culmination of months of optical alignment, testing, and cross-continental teamwork.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A knife rampage at a French school has left one girl dead and multiple children fighting for their lives.
A student armed with a knife launched the attack during a lunch brea at the private Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides high school in Doulon area of Nantes, western France, on Thursday.
The attacker, a 15-year-old boy who has been named by local media as Justin P.,
…not a typical Muslim name…
first entered a classroom on the school's second floor around midday where he stabbed a one student before going back downstairs to knife at least three others.
One of the students, a girl, was killed and the other three were injured in the rampage, with two said to be in serious condition, according to outlet BFM. The deceased girl reportedly was the first to be attacked by Justin P.
Teachers managed to restrain the boy before police arrived at the scene.
As armed police approached, Justin P. shouted 'Shoot me in the head,' at them.
Sounds like attempted suicide by cop.
The attempt to end his life failed, as officers handcuffed him and led him away.
He was dressed in black, and wore a bicycle helmet and a balaclava,
…he had great faith in the French police officers’ target skills…
according to an investigating source, who added that two blades - including a hunting knife - were found next to the attacker.
The 15-year-old is a student at the school and was not previously known to police. A police spokesperson said there was no indication of a terrorist motive.
A dispute between students may have been the cause of the attack, French outlet RTL reports, with TF1 adding that Justin P. recently had a 'romantic disagreement'.
A young idiot.
The attack followed students and staff at the school all receiving an email on Thursday morning, reportedly sent from Justin P.'s email account, entitled: 'Immune Action - Revolt is already the greatest victory we can achieve.'
Possibly that made sense in the original French…
This was followed by a screed of text, referring to the 'ills of society' and 'social alienation'.
A classmate told BFM that Justin P. had been 'a little weird since the beginning of the year'. He was also described as 'gloomy and depressed' by TF1.
An official at the school, which is part of a complex housing a primary and middle school, would not comment on what happened, saying the school is concentrating on caring for the students who were on campus at the time.
Images from the scene showed police surrounding the school as the investigation got under way.
Worried parents rushed to the school, which was cordoned off by police as students were evacuated to the institution's multipurpose room.
[KhaamaPress] Russia and China have developed a secret banking system to bypass Western sanctions, facilitating trade between the two nations.
Russian banks have launched a new payment system called “China Route” to conceal trade exchanges between Moscow and Beijing from Western regulators. According to Reuters, this system, designed to reduce the risk of sanctions and high costs, facilitates transactions through a network of intermediary countries that Moscow considers “friendly.”
The China Route system operates independently of SWIFT and Western banks. Payments are processed and settled through a central bank, where debts and receivables are netted. This system ensures that transactions are completed securely without relying on international banking infrastructures typically scrutinized by Western authorities.
To guarantee payments, banks involved in the China Route have created specific financial tools. As of now, there have been no reports of transaction reversals or blocked payments, suggesting that the system is functioning smoothly and efficiently.
The trade volume between Russia and China reached a record high of $245 billion last year. However, due to Chinese banks’ cautious approach in avoiding U.S. sanctions, the cost of transactions increased by up to 12%. Despite this, the China Route offers a more cost-effective alternative with reduced fees for both imports and exports.
Currently, the China Route charges about one percent for imports and half a percent for exports, with funds transferred within two days. These developments come as Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit Moscow in May to attend Russia’s Victory Day celebrations, further strengthening bilateral ties.
The introduction of the China Route payment system marks a significant shift in the economic relationship between Russia and China. It provides a more secure and efficient method for financial transactions, circumventing Western sanctions. With growing trade volumes between the two nations, this system is likely to play a crucial role in facilitating future exchanges.
Moreover, the system’s success may encourage other countries to explore similar alternatives to avoid the impact of Western financial restrictions.
[VANGUARDNGR] Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... on Thursday called on Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... to halt attacks on Ukraine, in a rare rebuke of the Russian leader after Moscow fired a barrage of missiles and drones at Kyiv, killing at least 12 in the deadliest attack on the capital in months.
The direct appeal to Putin came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his allies to put Russia under more pressure to halt its invasion.
The Ukrainian leader cut short a trip to South Africa to deal with the aftermath of the deadly strikes, the latest in a wave of large-scale Russian aerial attacks that have killed dozens of civilians.
''I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV,'' Trump said on social media.
''Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!'' he said. ''Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!''
Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff is due in Russia this week where he is expected to hold talks with Putin on a possible deal, his fourth since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Ukraine has been battered with aerial attacks throughout Russia's three-year invasion but deadly strikes on Kyiv, better protected by air defences than other cities, are less common.
The attacks threw more doubt on already fraught US efforts to push Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, with Trump having lashed out at Zelensky this week for not being willing to accept Russian occupation of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
''We do everything that our partners have proposed, only what contradicts our legislation and the Constitution we cannot do,'' Zelensky told news hounds in South Africa in response to a question about Crimea.
Zelensky also questioned whether Kyiv's allies were themselves doing enough to force Putin to agree to a full and unconditional ceasefire.
''I don't see any strong pressure on Russia or any new sanctions packages against Russia's aggression,'' Zelensky said, highlighting that Trump had previously warned of repercussions if Moscow did not agree to pause the fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2025
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[TWZ] The air combat exercises between Egypt and China serve multiple purposes, but Beijing's eye on Africa is highlighted by the drills.
In another sign of China’s growing interest in the Middle East and Africa, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has sent multiple combat aircraft to Wadi Abu Rish Air Base for "Eagles of Civilization 2025," its first aerial training exercise with Egypt. The PLAAF deployed a Y-20U aerial refueling tanker, a KJ-500 AWACS aircraft, and J-10B/C fighters from the 18th Air Brigade and the 177th Air Brigade, according to the China 3 Army Telegram channel. Egypt is flying its MiG-29M/M2 Fulcrum multirole fighters in the drills. All this is taking place against the backdrop of conflicting claims about Cairo purchasing J-10Cs and America’s gaze turning away from Africa.
The exercise kicked off on Sunday and runs through the middle of May. It "aims to enhance the technical and tactical levels of the participating troops on both sides and is of great significance to promoting pragmatic cooperation and enhancing mutual trust and friendship between the two armies," according to the official Chinese CCTV media outlet.
The exercise, being staged at a base about 60 miles west of the Gulf of Suez, will allow Egypt to work with one of China’s top airborne early warning and control platforms, its primary medium-weight multi-role fighter, and its relatively new refueler. Moving all these planes, support equipment and troops from China also demonstrates Beijing’s growing global air mobility capabilities.
"The air unit has adopted a mixed force formation that combines air transfer and aerial transportation, which ensured full deployment of all personnel and equipment by Tuesday after they completed a journey of nearly 6,000 kilometers (about 3,700 miles)," according to CCTV.
In addition, it has been suggested that China can use the exercise to train against relatively modern MiG-29s, a type that remains a primary fighter for the Indian Air Force and Navy.
On the larger geopolitical elements of this exercise, Eagles of Civilization 2025 gives China an inroad into a key U.S. Middle East ally at a time of increasing regional tensions and rising questions about U.S. reliability as a primary security partner.
Egypt, which received nearly $1.5 billion in U.S. military aid last year, is caught between wanting to continue that support and opposing calls by the Trump administration to deport residents of Gaza, where Israel and Hamas have been engaged in a brutal war since Oct. 7, 2023. Cairo has been a key player in trying to end that conflict, helping to negotiate a ceasefire that has since collapsed.
With the real possibility of drastic foreign aid cuts to beneficiaries like Egypt, Cairo could see Beijing as an alternative to Washington’s largesse and resulting attached strings. A former commander of U.S. Central Command gave us his thoughts on the situation.
"I don’t know that this exercise portends any significant direct risk for us — but it is a reminder that our partners (in this case Egypt) have choices as well," retired Army Gen. Joseph Votel, now a Distinguished Military Fellow at the Middle East Institute, told us Monday morning. "Clearly, China is trying to grow influence with countries in the region, who also have well-established ties to the U.S., so that they are viewed more positively. This is linked to a desire to be seen as an alternative military equipment supplier to Egypt and other countries in the region. To this end, China will portray themselves as a more timely and effective supplier — and partner — than the United States." There's more at the link, and it includes formatting I'm leaving out. And lots of pictures.
[EngMilRu] The Russian Armed Forces delivered a massive strike by long-range air-, ground-, and sea-based precision weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles at the Ukrainian aviation, missile space, engineering, and armoured industry enterprises, as well as at facilities producing rocket fuel and gunpowder. The goals of the strike were achieved. All the targets were engaged.
In Belgorod direction, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted damage on formations of three AFU mechanised brigades and one assault regiment close to Osovoyevka, Ugroyedy, Miropolskoye, Veliky Prikol and Petrushevka (Sumy region).
The AFU lost more than 45 troops, one armoured fighting vehicle, four motor vehicles, and three field artillery guns.
Elements of the Zapad Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions and hit manpower and hardware of four mechanised brigades of the AFU, two territorial defence brigades, and one National Guard brigade near Kupyansk, Andreyevka, Druzhelyubovka, Petropavlovka, Kamenka (Kharkov region), Novoye, Kirovsk, and Yampol (Donetsk People's Republic).
The enemy lost up to 255 troops, one tank, two armoured fighting vehicles, including one Turkish-made Kirpi armoured vehicle, five pickup trucks, three artillery guns, as well as five electronic warfare stations (Oktava-S, Bukovel-AD, Ankalav). Three enemy ammunition depots were destroyed.
The Yug Group of Forces units improved the situation along the front line. They hit three mechanised brigades and one motorised infantry brigade of the AFU, three territorial defence brigades, and one National Guard brigade close to Shcherbinovka, Petrovka, Kramatorsk, Slavyansk, Zakotnoye, Chasov Yar, Ivanopolye, Konstantinovka, and Seversk (Donetsk People's Republic).
Ukrainian armed formations lose up to 405 troops, an armoured fighting vehicle, 12 motor vehicles, and three field artillery guns. One electronic warfare station and three ammunition depots have been neutralised.
As a result of the intensive actions of the Tsentr Group's units, Bogdanovka (Donetsk People's Republic) has been liberated.
The Group also hit manpower and hardware clusters of one heavy mechanised brigade, two mechanised brigades, one assault brigade, one airmobile brigade, one UAV brigade of the AFU, and one National Guard brigade near Novaya Poltavka, Lysovka, Vodyanskoye, Udachnoye, Krivirozhye (Donetsk People's Republic), and one Mezhevaya and Novopodgorodnoye (Dnepropetrovsk region).
The enemy sustained losses of up to 410 troops, one armoured fighting vehicle, six motor vehicles, and two artillery guns.
The Vostok Group of Forces continued to advance to the depths of the enemy's defence; the Group inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of one mechanised brigade, one air assault brigade, one airmobile brigade of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and one territorial defence brigade close to Bogatyr, Novoukrainka, Volnoye Pole, and Zelenoye Pole (Donetsk People's Republic).
The enemy suffered losses of up to 155 troops, six motor vehicles, two field artillery guns, and two electronic warfare stations.
Elements of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on units of one mechanised brigade and three coastal defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Pavlovka, Novodanilovka (Zaporozhye region), Ponyatovka, and Tokarevka (Kherson region).
More than 70 troops, 12 motor vehicles, two artillery guns, two electronic warfare stations, and one ammunition depot have been neutralised.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack drones, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have inflicted damage on infrastructure of military airfields, as well as temporary deployment areas of the AFU armed formations and foreign mercenaries in 148 areas.
Air defence systems destroyed four U.S.-made JDAM aerial bombs, as well as 230 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
Since the beginning of the special military operation, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised 661 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 53,430 unmanned aerial vehicles, 604 anti-aircraft missile systems, 23,006 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,546 MLRS combat vehicles, 24,045 field artillery guns and mortars, 34,490 units of special military vehicles.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.
The Sever Group of Forces hit units of three air assault brigades and a territorial defence brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Gornal and Oleshnya.
Operational-tactical and army aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, and artillery fire hit enemy manpower and hardware close to Belovody, Varachino, Vodolagi, Glubokoye, Zapselye, Loknya, Malaya Rybitsa, Miropolye, Mogritsa, Sadki, Yunakovka, and Yablonovka in Sumy region.
During the day, the AFU losses amounted to more than 150 troops, one armoured fighting vehicle, one artillery gun, two mortars, one MLRS launcher, 10 motor vehicles, 11 UAV command posts, and two ammunition depots.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to more than 75,860 troops, 412 tanks, 337 infantry fighting vehicles, 311 armoured personnel carriers, 2,285 armoured fighting vehicles; 2,775 motor vehicles, 643 self-propelled artillery systems and field artillery guns, 63 MLRS launchers, including 15 of HIMARS and seven of MLRS made by the USA, 29 anti-aircraft missile launchers, one self-propelled anti-aircraft system, ten transport-loading vehicles, 130 EW stations,18 counter-fire radars,12 air defence radars, 58 units of engineering and other materiel, including 23 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, five bridge launchers, one engineering reconnaissance vehicle as well as 16 armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
[FoxNews] One Maine police chief said 90% of crimes that his officers respond to "have a drug nexus".
Maine has become a "wholesale distribution hub" for drug dealers in the Northeast, bringing a slew of crime to the rural state, a police chief told Fox News Digital.
The New England state, typically known for its rugged coastline and beautiful fall foliage, has gradually become filled with illicit drugs as more gangs establish themselves in the area. Chris Martin, police chief of the Brewer Police Department in Maine, told Fox News Digital that his area has turned into a distribution hub for illegal drugs.
"What we've seen in the past, particularly four years, is that our area has turned into a wholesale distribution hub. So, we have kilo quantities available of fentanyl and methamphetamine and cocaine. And that's a dramatic market shift that we hadn't seen 10, 20 years ago. So the supply has increased readily," Martin said.
Martin, who also serves as the town's public safety director, said the rise in illegal drugs has also brought a rise in crime. Since it's often costly to purchase street drugs, Martin said that individuals are turning to crime in order to fund their addiction.
"With that, we're also seeing the presence of organized crime. Street gangs out of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, they're actually bringing the supply here," Martin said. "Drug addiction cause crime. And if you have a one or 200 or $300 a day habit, especially if it's an opioid like fentanyl, it doesn't take a day off. If you don't have the drug, you get sick. So how does anybody afford one, two, $300 day habits every day of the week? You invariably have to commit crimes."
Martin said those crimes include theft, prostitution, human trafficking, burglary and drug sales. He added that about 90% of the crimes that his officers are responding to "have a drug nexus."
Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said in September 2023 that fentanyl is responsible for 80% of all drug deaths throughout the state.
Republican State Sen. Brad Farrin, who lost his 26-year-old daughter to a drug overdose, proposed a bill in 2023 that would have reclassified the trafficking of fentanyl to a Class A felony. The bill was voted down, primarily by Democrats.
Republican Bobby Charles, who is running for Maine governor and served in the former Bush administration as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, told Fox News Digital the state needs to get more serious about confronting this epidemic.
"I have never seen anything like what we're experiencing here in Maine. This state, when I grew up in this state, might have had five overdoses in the entire state. Last year, this state had 10,000 overdoses, and many of them fatal," Charles said. "I sit down beside people and they quietly lean over to me and say, this happened to me two days ago, I lost my daughter to fentanyl two years ago…Do you know what that devastation is like? It's huge and it is inexcusable. It is immoral and it has to be stopped."
Charles has placed the blame squarely on statewide Democrats and Mills, who, in his view, haven't done much to reduce the flow of illegal drugs into Maine.
"The traffickers have come into this state, and because the Democrats have cut the guts out of law enforcement, they have, in my opinion, betrayed them. There isn't a single situation in which a prosecutor feels like he has enough money or has the ability to prosecute these cases. They've been abandoned, OK?" Charles said.
"The bottom line is they're trying to turn Maine into inner city Chicago or the Badlands of Philly. And I am not going to stand for it. Mainers are not going to stand for."
#1
Treat the addicts, execute the dealers upon conviction. Allowing 1 mandatory automatic appeal not to exceed 3 years... not 20 years later or life as it is now.
#3
An interesting development. Maine used to be up near Canada. Recently, with Trump's tariffs vs fentanyl move, we have gotten some idea of the extent of China's involvement in Canadian government and other even scurrilous things. Perhaps there is a CCP connection here. Or it could just be the usual transnational criminal gangs.
It is left as an exercise for the Reader to distinguish national governments from criminal cartels.
#4
Maine is perfect for this type of operation. Most of the population is near the seaboard, with vast areas of forests and undeveloped areas to hide.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/25/2025 10:35
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#5
And then there is the unprecedented demand driven by woke nonsense -the hopeless nihilism - indoctrinated into our young students. They need true meaning in their lives, not drugs.
As an aside, marijuana was legalized here 3 years ago.
Posted by: Difar Dave ||
04/25/2025 11:27
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Kiev regime is concentrating troops and equipment in the Kharkiv region near the border with Russia. Deputy head of the Russian administration of the Kharkiv region Yevgeny Lisnyak said thisduring a briefing.
Referring to data from operational sources and testimonies of local residents, he noted that in the village of Velykyi Burluk, located near the border with the Belgorod region, the number of personnel of Ukrainian formations has grown significantly. At the same time, the share of foreign mercenaries in them exceeds the share of Ukrainians, the deputy specified.
“In parallel with the increase in the number of personnel, there is an active movement of various military equipment into the populated area, including armored vehicles, ATVs and light buggies,” Lisnyak added.
According to him, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hide equipment on the territory of private homes, in garages and outbuildings, and camouflage it with dense vegetation. He also said that local residents who are trying to return to their homes from the regional center find soldiers there.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on April 11, the commander of the West group of forces, Colonel General Sergei Kuzovlev, reported to the Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov that more than 330 square kilometers of territory and 18 settlements in the Izyum direction had come under Russian control since the beginning of the year. The West group operates in the DPR, LPR and the Kharkov region, where Izyum is the third largest city.
In October 2024, Russian troops liberated the first settlement in the Izyum district — the village of Vishnevoe. At the end of March, the village of Krasnoye Pervoye in the Kupyansk district of the Kharkiv region was liberated. According to Ganchev, control over the village means the possibility of leveling the front line in this direction. The Russian army continues to expand its control zone on the right bank of the Oskol River, he noted.
[VANGUARDNGR] Authorities charged a teenager with aggravated arson, prosecutors said Thursday, after a forest fire scorched 15,000 acres of land in New Jersey, in the northeastern United States, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.
The fires spreading in Ocean County, the coastal region of New Jersey, south of New York, are only half contained, according to the latest update from firefighters posted on Facebook.
The fire, which has so far destroyed a commercial building, could become the largest in New Jersey for 20 years.
Prosecutors said that on Wednesday they charged a 19-year-old man from the region with aggravated arson following what they allege was an improperly extinguished bonfire.
Since Tuesday, images have shown thick smoke in the sky above the region.
New York health authorities warned Thursday morning that air quality would be degraded, recommending vulnerable communities limit their outdoor activities.
The blaze erupted in the pine forests of New Jersey, one of the largest protected areas on the East Coast. The state was put under drought alert in March.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2025
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Top|| File under:
#1
I always thought the term "arson" implied intent, not just culpable stupidity.
#2
Homeless people need to stay warm! I don’t know about your areas, but the police in my town frequently raid homeless camps and confiscate everything they find. Why, because they start forest and ranch land fires.
Posted by: Old Salty ||
04/25/2025 9:59
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[VANGUARDNGR] The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Nigeria and other African countries to raise tax revenue by expanding the tax base and curtailing tax evasion.
Briefing the press at the ongoing Spring Meetings of the Fund and the World Bank in Washington, yesterday, the Managing Director of the IMF, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, said that those steps were crucial for Nigeria and the entire region to navigate the current global economic challenges.
Her words, ''We have seen over the last years, the African continent having some of the fastest growing economies, but we also have seen low income countries primarily and among the fragile conflict affected countries falling further behind, this is a shock for the continent.
''The direct impact of tariffs on most of Africa, not on all of Africa, but on most of Africa, is relatively small, but the indirect impact is quite significant. Slowing global growth means that all other things equal, they would see a downgrade. And actually we have downgraded the growth prospects for the continent.
''For oil producers like Nigeria, falling oil prices create additional pressure on their budgets. On the other hand, for the oil importers, this is a breath of fresh air. In other words, different countries face different challenges. If I were to come with some basic recommendations that apply to Africa, I would say, and actually, they apply to Nigeria, they apply to Egypt, they apply to Ghana, they apply to Cote d'Ivoire.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Two foreigners, acting on orders from Kiev, were preparing a terrorist attack at a petrochemical plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region. They were neutralized during an attempt to detain them, the FSB Public Relations Center (PRC) reported
The security agency noted that Ukrainian special services recruited two Central Asians who shared the ideology of an international terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation to commit a sabotage and terrorist act. It was assumed that they would use FPV drones with improvised explosive devices seized from a cache for the attack.
“During their arrest, they offered armed resistance and were neutralized by return fire,” the statement said.
At the scene of the incident, the FSB added, two drones with foreign-made explosives and firearms were seized. The foreigners' phones contained correspondence with the Ukrainian curator, including information about a cache of weapons.
A criminal case has been opened on the fact of preparation for sabotage, and the necessary operational-search measures and investigative actions are being carried out.
The FSB regularly reports on prevented terrorist attacks. Thus, on April 2, a 49-year-old serviceman was detained who was planning to set off an explosion on the territory of one of the military units in the Moscow region. The man acted on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services. He was detained after receiving an explosive device.
At the end of March, it became known that a terrorist attack had been prevented in one of Moscow's administrative buildings. According to the investigation, a man born in 1972 was planning to detonate a homemade explosive device in a crowded place and then go to Ukraine to take part in military operations against Russia.
BREAKING: New US Attorney in Los Angeles, @billessayli, announces his office is charging this illegal alien with felony re-entry, and they will seek to imprison him federally for up to 20 years once CA releases him.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...Arabic term meaning 
...
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
...the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. Some religions consider it to be a crime. In Pakistain you can commit blasphemy by looking cross-eyed at a Koran...
... the personification of Somali state failure...
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
[NYP] A senior Russian military general was killed Friday in a fiery car explosion in Moscow.
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...the 
...Arabic for 
...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...
